Life goes on
by avian304
Summary: zomgz an update! ReiShinji, Chapter 13. Shinji is forced to move into Rei's apartment by request of commander Ikari. Hilarity, angst, and romance ensues.
1. Eva1

Disclaimer: I don't own characters, or the story, or anything else that belongs to Gainax.

Authors Note: Ok, I'm basing this on the manga version. Because overall I think that its wayyyy better than the anime. (and Rei looks better) anyway this is my first time at an evangelion fan fic so please DON'T go easy on me, FLAME me if you feel like it (however make it constructive so I can build something after the initial burning) O and by the way to any authors out there who would like me to draw anything for your fan fic I'll be more than happy to oblige, (although I may not be the best writer I am a good drawer) my e-mail is ok? Ok on with the story! Wait not yet, another thing is that the books that I have are translated into Thai, which I can read thankfully. Who knows? Since Thailand in now asias no.1 hot spot the language might be usefull in the future! And since I haven't read the English version of evangelion what I write might conflict with what the stuff that other read y'know? (By the way book 7 was a blast!) anyone still here? Ok, BEGIN!

"Blah" Spoken

-Flashback- Flashback (no DUH!)

'Blah' thoughs

**Life Goes On**

Saluting, the informant bowed and then quickly left the premises of the commander's room. His foot steps echoing as he walked.

"So what shall we do?" Fuyutsuki asked, leaning back into his chair, legs crossed and frowning.

Standing up from his chair, commander Gendo Ikari walked over to the huge mirror in his office that portrayed the immense landscape of the Geofront.

"We need someone to look after the Third Child, but not someone who will get attached to him," continued Fuyutsuki. "For if this doesn't go 'exactly' as planned it could... well..." Fuyutsuki twirled his fingers in the air. "Complicate things."

For a while there was no response to Fuyutsuki's statement. Gendo Ikari merely stared out the window almost as if lost in thought. However Fuyutsuki had grown accustomed to Gendo's behavior and waited patiently for his response.

"You're right, sensei," said Gendo, finally speaking up.

"Yes, well, it is not unexpected," Fuyutsuki said, standing up from his chair and walked over to Gendo's side. "Major Katsuragi has in turn, become almost sister figure to the Third Child, it is highly unlikely she would agree to this."

"So it seems..."

For a long moment both men stood by the window staring aimlessly into the Geofront. Several minutes passed without either of them saying a word. Until, finally Gendo spoke up.

"Have the Third Child move into an apartment in section 40."

"Section 40?"

"Yes."

Raising an eyebrow in surprise at Gendo's decision Fuyutsuki nodded and turned to leave.

Now normally such a move would be quite normal and even beneficial to an organization. The apartments in section 40 were cheap, considering that almost nobody lived there anymore. And strategically, it was in a desirable location, being close to the NERV headquarters.

However, it was also the home of the First Child.

But it didn't matter, Rei would never disobey him. She belonged to him, he owned her. And he was confident that she would never turn her back to him.

Gendo, now alone continued to stand by the window. He stood there, staring into bliss until finally he too, turned and left the room.

After all, a doll could not betray a skilled puppeteer now could it?

* * *

The Empty streets of Tokyo-3 were a blur as Shinji looked out the window from his cab. The relocation of his home was brought under effect immediately, thus he was forced to pack his bags, clear his room and move on the same day. All things considering, Misato-san took it quite well. Well, to Misato standards anyway. 

-Flashback-

"What? What do you mean that Shinji no longer requires my supervision?" a shocked Misato asked the NERV personnel who stood in front of her door.

"Orders from the commander ma'am. Effective immediately you are no longer the Third Childs legal guardian. The Third child will be placed in an accommodation supplied by NERV."

Opening her mouth to respond she found herself unable to form the words. Commander Ikari's decision was final. And she knew that once the commander had made his mind nothing short of Armageddon could change it. Massaging the sides of her temple Misato groaned weakly.

"I will be back in half an hour. I expect to see the Third Child ready and packed by then." Saluting, the messenger and the two soldiers turned and left, walking noisily down the corridor.

Slowly closing the door Misato sulked over to the fridge. She needed a beer...

But not just any beer.

She had a special beer for situations like these.

A beer so special that it was illegal to posses it in 145 countries. Including Japan.

The Asahi 3000 ®.

-End of Flashback-

Sighing, Shinji continued to stare out the window. He had no idea where the taxi driver was taking him, he had tried asking the driver a couple of times but the driver wouldn't answer any of his questions.

What had happened? Why has Misato no longer his legal guardian? Was it something that he did? Perhaps it was all those magazines he had hidden under the eleventh floorboard from the cupboard? Unable to formulate an answer at the moment Shinji dismissed these thoughts and continued to stare at Tokyo-3's empty streets.

Now he truly felt that he was alone.

When the taxi finally came to the stop, the driver practically threw Shinji's luggage, himself included, out of the cab.

Before Shinji could get up, the taxi driver had driven away, leaving Shinji standing alone with his luggage on the sidewalk. In the taxi drivers mad attempt to put as much distance between the Third Child and himself as possible, he had forgotten to collect the fare. Not that it really mattered; Shinji had no money on him. In his packing fury he had forgotten to pick up his wallet.

As the dust settled, Shinji began to see through the dusty haze that confronted him.

Here?

The apartments of section 40. Standing nearly 300 stories tall it was an awesome sight to behold. But what was truly amazing about these set of buildings was that it was made entirely of titanium. Due to improved drilling and salvaging technology the process of gathering resources has improved dramatically both in effectiveness and speed.

As the roar of the taxi slowly faded away, the dull thuds of nearby construction site made itself known.

Confused, Shinji was unsure of what to do. The Messenger had simply stated that he was to be moved to his new residence in room number 402.

Gathering the few possessions that he had, Shinji began to walk towards the entrance of the huge complex.

'So I'll be bunking with Ayanami?' he asked himself silently.

* * *

The setting sun behind Shinji had caused a huge shadow that entirely covered apartment 402's door, virtually hiding it from his view. Reaching out Shinji pressed the doorbell. 

'Still broken.' Figures...

Bang, Bang

The sound of the knocking echoed down the empty hall, sending shivers up Shinji's spine. 'Perhaps this is why no one lives here' he thought to himself as the sound of the echo slowly faded away. But then again, the fact that Tokyo-3 was constantly under attack by Angels would be a more likely explanation.

"Ayanami? Are you home?"

The silence that followed confirmed his thoughts. Shrugging, Shinji reached for what he thought was a locked doorknob. Surprised that the door was unlocked he swung the door open a bit too quickly causing him to be slightly thrown off balance. After he managed to steady himself, he collected his thoughts and went inside. Stepping inside Ayanami's apartment, Shinji was again appalled at the sight that stood before him.

'KAMI-SAMA ALMIGHTY IT'S DIRTY!' Shinji screamed inwardly after seeing Ayanami's room, or what was left of it.

Shinji's "clean" mind was screaming bloody hell at him after seeing Ayanami's room. There was a huge pile of unwashed clothes next to an unmade bed that was so filthy that it would've been considered an environmental hazard to the surrounding community. The floor was covered inch- thick in dust and the open windowsills were covered in what looks like mounds of pigeon feces. Cobwebs hung from every corner of the room and unwashed dishes towered over Shinji. How Rei managed to cause this within the short period of time since Shinji cleaned her room last time, he had no idea. Submitting to his obsessive compulsive brain, Shinji left his bags outside, as not to dirty them, and then proceeded to do the near impossible task of cleaning the First Child's room.

* * *

Rei was tired. 

The excessive synchronization tests were getting more and more arduous. The last week alone Rei had had over 5 sync tests. Most of which were for Unit 01. The sudden increase in sync training with Unit 01 had initially surprised her, but of course as usual Rei didn't ask any questions. Rei lived in the here and now. What happened in the past was none of her concern and what happened in the future has the concern of the NERV personnel.

However, synchronizing with Unit 01 was one of the few orders that Rei actually looked forward to. Because whenever she synchronized with Unit 01 the essence of its pilot would wash over her.

The essence of Shinji Ikari the Third Child.

Whenever she synchronized with Unit 01 the essence of Shinji would wash over her, fulfilling her and completing her. Why this was Rei did not know, but whenever she synced with Unit 01 it would fill a void that she felt inside and it placed her at ease. Her training as a pilot did not cover this. However, Rei knew that if she was to report this to the commander he would investigate on the situation. And since it wasn't causing her or the NERV personnel harm she did not feel the need to report this particular phenomenon. In fact, because of this phenomenon that she was able to synchronize with Unit 01 so easily. Besides her duty at the moment was to achieve the highest possible sync ratio with Unit 01, the side effect could be a result of changing Evas or a temporary result of synchronizing with Unit 01. But whatever it was, it was beneficial and Rei did not want it to end in a hurry.

Walking to her apartment Rei noticed a black bag lying outside her room.

'Odd,' Rei thought to herself. 'I do not recall being informed that repair crew would be here today.'

Upon closer inspection Rei noticed that the bag did not belong to the repair crew, since it did not bear the NERV sign. Ignoring the bag, Rei entered the room and was instantly taken back with what she saw.

Everything was so... clean! The dishes were washed, the bad was made, all her clothes were washed and left to dry on the balcony, the floor was scrubbed clean, and not a single speck of duck was in sight. However, there was a very dirty, very tired, very worn out, dehydrated teen sleeping spread eagle in the middle of her room.

Rei instantly recognized him from his signature shirt and pants. "Ikari-kun?" placing her school bag on the floor Rei walked forward to get a look at the sleeping teen in the middle of her floor.

"Ikari-kun?" she asked again, getting no response she assumed that he was sleeping. Crouching to get a better look at him, she stared at his sleeping figure.

With Shinji being the room's only occupant before she entered then that meant that it was Shinji who'd cleaned up her room. 'It is a logical conclusion. Since he is the only one present the room.' Rei confirmed to herself.

Seeing how tired the Third Child was Rei thought that is was best to let him sleep. After taking a shower Rei sat down on her bed and continued to watch the sleeping teen. But soon Rei too, fell asleep.

* * *

"Baka! Misato! I'm home" Shouted a very riled up Asuka as she kicked the door open. "Hey! Anyone home?" Asuka shouted again this time slamming the door with all her strength in order to make her presence known. 

However she was greeted by silence. Walking over to the living room she found Misato, eyes red with a mountain of empty beer cans by her side.  
"Misato-san? What happened?" Asuka asked, taken back by her disheveled appearance. Not only was her eyes red but her hair was a messed, her clothes were wrinkled and she was practically oozing with the foul odor of alcohol.

Misato slowly turned her head, as if the mere action of moving her head took a great deal of effort, and it probably did, considering the mountains of beer cans behind her Asuka thought to herself.

"Shinji..." Misato mumbled.

"What? The baka? What did that Hentai do?"

Misato however, found she was unable to continue talking. Her head rolled back she dropped the can she was holding and started to snore loudly.

Walking over to Shinji's room Asuka banged the door. "Shinji no baka, what have you done to Misato-san, PERVERT!"

Silence

Slamming the door open Asuka went into the Third Childs room. There will be hell to pay for this she thought to herself, ready to show the Third Child the true meaning of pain.

But…It was empty. And this, Asuka had trouble comprehending. Of course, a time like this calls for some sort of weird still anime scene. So here goes.

"ZZzzzzz" Misato snored from a nearby room.

-KraackaBOOM- came a strike of lightning outside, illuminating the room.

-Fwsshh- Pen-Pen turned on hot water in the bathroom for his evening bath.

Don't forget that during this entire time Asuka is standing, shocked. So actually, this scene is really quite funny. Right?

So anyways, incredibly lame scene aside, Shinji's room was empty and the Third Child was no where to be seen.

Running back Asuka began shaking Misato. Grabbing her shirt, (which was rather small), she shook Misato causing her head to wobble back and forth clumsily.

"Misato-san, WAKE UP! WHERE'S SHINJI?" Asuka shouted in Misatos face. However, Asukas attempt to wake Misato was in vain. Nothing short of Armageddon would wake her and Asuka knew this. Releasing her hold on Misato she turned and went to the living room. Plopping herself on the couch, she turned on the TV, her favorite show was on the air. That baka better be back in time to make my dinner Asuka stared at the TV for the rest of the show, lost in thought.

* * *

Short I know but it will be longer in later chapters. (Trust me.) You've read this (I hope) and you've like this (I hope) thus you will review this (I hope) ok? OK! Review baby review. NOW! Flames are more then welcome (as long as its constructive) ANYTHING that I could de better, tell me so I can fix it now and in the future 

"I'll be back" Oooo I've always wanted to say that!


	2. Eva2

Authors note: ok, ET I will explain later why Shinji got moved over to Rei's house. All you gotta do is wait ya? And one more thing, I feel like some sort of prehistoric dinosaur here, what is OOC?

**Life Goes On**

Groaning, Shinji woke up suddenly, the morning light burning into his still sensitive eyes. Blocking the sun with his hand he lay there for a minute, too sore to get up.

'Ohh man... why am I on the floor?'

Turning over, he began crawling over to the shadowy figure that resembled a bed.

'Need... bed... need... sleep...'

Finally reaching the bed, Shinji pulled himself on top and in approximately one forth of a second, fell asleep; not noticing the bed's other occupant, who had suddenly woken up.

Rei watched in silence as Shinji climbed into her bed and instantly fell asleep. Unsure of how to react to the current situation, Rei thought that it was best to do nothing for now.

'Doesn't Ikari-kun know that I am present in the bed?' she wondered to herself, in an attempt to rationalize the Third Childs odd behavior. She knew Shinji well enough that the act of sleeping in the same bed with a female would be considered "Improper". Although Rei was unaccustomed to these concepts, she had learned to recognize them.

Continuing to stare at the Third Child, who had now shifted his weight so that he was facing Rei, Rei pondered on.

She also knew that the only time that sharing a bed would be proper was when the two people were in a relationship, whether they were involved either sexually or romantically.

Shrugging off her current thought, Rei turned over and tried to get some sleep, there would be more sync tests tomorrow and she would need to be in the best of health if she is to perform admirably. Whatever the Third Pilot was doing poised no current threat and was neither beneficial to her and was thus was none of her concern.

However, before she fell asleep the lightest of blushes crossed her normally stoic face.

* * *

Snarling, Asuka stomped over to Rei's apartment, kicking trashcans and tiny mammals that happened to be in her path.

No mercy for the baka!

Not after this! Not after he ditched her, the great Asuka Sohryu, for the unemotional wonder girl!

'I had to eat Misato's cooking for dinner' seethed Asuka, whose stomach was now causing so much noise that it disturbed a group of birds on a nearby tree, causing them to scatter.

Reaching room 401 Asuka panted heavily, she was worn out from her sprint up the stairs; she held on to door handle for support. Which in turn, instantly swung open since it was not locked. Asuka, thrown off balance by the door, was pulled into the room causing her to fall onto the floor.

whump

Her pride hurt, she instantly ordered herself to stand up and act casual, hoping that no one saw her. Realizing that there was no one in the room, she brushed her clothes and continued venturing into the apartment.

'Clean,' she observed to herself as she explored the apartment of the First Child. Not a speck of dust in sight.

Asuka was busy observing a pile of stacked dishes, when something suddenly moved, catching her eye instantly. Looking at the bed that lied in the middle of the room, Asuka could make out Shinji Ikari sitting up in the middle of the bed.

However the real eye catcher was the fact that Ayanami was also in the bed with Shinji.

"Wha..N..Ah.Gn...SH...Ki..." Asuka was unable to form the words as hundreds of thoughts ran through her mind at once. Shinji also seemed oblivious about what was going on around him, until he saw Rei next to him under the covers.

"ICCHI HENTAI" shrieked Asuka finally managing to string the two intended words together.

"Asuka, NO, it's not what you think!" Shinji cried, while scrambling to get out of the bed, however his leg got tangled with the sheets, causing him too lose his balance and land on top of Rei.

Fire in her eyes, Asuka lunged forward grabbing Shinji's throat at started strangling him.

"Baka baka BAKA! You left me to starve so you can sleep with WONDER GIRL?" shrieked Asuka as she continued to strangle Shinji, who was considerably weaker then Asuka. However, her murderous attempts were disrupted by an intruder.

"Is there a problem?"

All there pilots simultaneously turned their head and saw a NERV employee standing over them, staring at them intently.

It was a pretty awkward situation, since Shinji was sandwiched by two girls on a bed, Asuka on top and Rei on the bottom.

"……………..." Asuka, Shinji and Rei simultaneously said.

Brushing his long hair with his hand the NERV employed continued on "Pilot Ayanami, Sohryu, and Ikari, under the orders of the commander, I am to escort you to NERV immediately."

Confused both pilots continued to stare at the messenger except for Asuka, who pushed Shinji away and quickly got on her feet.

"Fine, I'll wait outside then." She said loudly.

Realizing what an awkward situation that she was in, Asuka quickly regained her composure, also realizing that she was already known to be "Mentally unstable" any further acts of disruption or loss of control could cause her problems with her piloting license later on. The NERV employee soon followed her outside.

Shinji, snapping back to his senses, quickly lifted himself off Rei, face red he began apologizing profusely.

"I'm sorry Ayanami... I didn't mean to... I mean... I didn't..." unable to formulate an apology he simply hung his head in shame.

Rei for that matter did not understand what Shinji was apologizing for, he had not caused her harm and he had not insulted her. Slightly confused Rei simply stared at Shinji, who was staring at the floor intently.

"Do not worry Ikari-kun, there is no reason to apologize." Rei said simply

Shinji raised his head a little, to look at the girl questioningly, but she was already walking to her closet to change. However just before Rei was about to change clothes, he could swear that he saw the faintest of smiles upon her face.

Head still down, Shinji picked up his bag and walked outside, still somewhat guilty for what he had done. Oh man, Ayanami must hate me now Shinji thought to himself as he walked out the door, meeting with the cool breeze of the morning air.

But then again, he continued, leaning on the railing She did say that there was no reason to apologize, so then... however Shinji never finished that thought. He was distracted by the large flock on birds that flew over him, distorting the soft morning sun as they flew by.

* * *

Groaning, Shinji stumbled his way up the stairs to Rei's apartment. Throughout the entire day he was bombarded with multiple sync tests and physical exams. Shinji had asked what the purpose was for all this but Ritsuko kept repeating the same answer. 

"NEVR has decided to step up its defenses, since it's been a while since the last angel attack, we expect that this one would be exceptionally powerful."

Not that Shinji believed a word she said of course, but it was odd, since most of his tests were in Unit 00. It was an odd feeling; however it was not uncomfortable experience. Every time that he synced with Unit 00, an overwhelming feeling of loneliness would envelop him. Every time that he synced with Unit 00 he felt cold, tired, and miserable, but the worse feeling of all was the loneliness. He felt cut off from the world every time that he came in contact with Eva; however, every time synced with the Eva he would be at peace.

He would be lonely, sad, tired and miserable but every single time that he synced, he would be at peace.

'I wonder if Ayanami feels this every time that she syncs with her Eva?'

He hoped that this was the last time that he would have to sync with Unit 00, anymore and he would surely go insane.

Rei however, did not participate in any sync tests today in fact; Shinji had not seen Rei since they had reached NERV, where they soon split. Shinji and Asuka followed Misato-san while Rei followed Ritsuko.

He had asked Ritsuko why was it that he had moved to stay with Rei, however all she said was it was mandatory and it was for future benefits.

Thus his question was left unanswered and Shinji still had to stay with Rei. Not that it was bad, of course. At least he didn't have to stay in the same house as the German fireball. His medical bills would probably be cheaper this month.

Knocking on Rei's door (something that he has always done since "the incident") Shinji waited for a response.

"Come in" a soft voice from inside called out.

Pushing the door open Shinji entered the room.

Rei was sitting on the side of the bad, legs together and hands on her laps. "You are not required to knock anymore Ikari-kun; this is your residence as well as mine."

"H-hai Ayanami," Shinji nodded, placed his bag down and walked over to the kitchen. "Have you eaten yet Ayanami-san?" Shinji asked as he walked over to the kitchen. "I can fix something if you haven't."

"...Iie." Rei replied simply, watching the Third Child open the door to the fridge.

A cabbage and a bowl of miso soup was all that was present in the fridge. Sweat dropping, Shinji closed the fridge and walked out of the kitchen. "On second thought how about we go eat out, is that ok with you?"

"...Hai"

* * *

Thai food was the preferred choice of the Third Child. Picking up the menu, Rei glanced at the selections available. She did not recognize any of the choices. All her life, she had eaten either from the food that NERV supplied to her daily, or one of those very convenient instant noodles that usually lied somewhere around her apartment.

She did not feel the need to try out different types of food; as long as her food contained the 4 basic food groups, taste was usually not much of a concern.

Glancing down at the menu again she reread the available selection

"Moo pahd gra teuhm?" she gave the Third child a questioning look.

"Oh that? That's basically fried pork with garlic," Shinji explained. "You don't eat meat right? Then go here," flipping through Rei's menu, he got to the required page. "This page has no meat."

Looking at her menu again, Rei was still unable to figure out what each selection meant.

"I will take this then," Rei stated, pointing a finger at a random selection.

Glancing at Ayanamis choice Shinji couldn't help but frown. "Are you sure Ayanami? That is rather spicy."

"...It is acceptable." Spicy? I am not aware of the concept.

"Ok then" after giving his and Rei's orders to the waitress, Shinji quickly attempted to start a conversation with Ayanami.

"So... uhh... Ayanami, watch any good movies lately?" Shinji asked, in an attempt to break the uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them.

"Iie, I do not take part in activities such as watching movies, not only is it a waste of money, but there is also no benefits to my ability as a pilot." Rei instantly replied, as if rehearsed. She had tried going to a movie once, out of curiosity. However she was disappointed with what she had seen. Not only was the content of the film bad, but she could not comprehend how one man was able to save the entire planet in a matter of two days. Not only did he penetrate enemy territory, he also escaped unscathed. How this was amusing to the general public, Rei did not understand.

"You know, there are things more important than just being a pilot,"

"..." Tilting her said to the side, Rei choose not to reply. That is a matter of opinion, some people tend to value other things more then others would. My purpose is Eva. That is who I am.

"I mean," Shinji continued, "When was the last time that you went out for fun? Without it being an order."

I do not remember.

"People are social animals you know"

Animals were born, I was not

"Hello?"

Animals were made to live, I was made to...

"Ayanami?" Shinji asked, his voice slightly raised. Rei had just zoomed out momentarily, lost in her thoughts. Raising her eyes she looked back into his eyes.

Shinji-kun... what... what am I...

Her thoughts were again interrupted by the waitress, who had placed Rei's order in front of her carelessly, causing a loud bang.

"Sorry," muttered the waitress, who also served Shinji's dish in the same careless fashion, nearly spilling his food.

"Bad service they got here" Shinji commented, picking up his chopsticks and began eating.

Rei looked down at her own dish; she had never eaten som tam before. Picking up her fork she took a bite of the strange substance. WHAM! The taste hit her like a runaway truck. Most of her life she had literally lived of canteen food, tasteless, disgusting, but nutritional. Never before has she eaten something so powerful, so full of flavor, so FREAKING SPICY!

Grabbing her glass of water next to her, she lifted it to her lips and drained its entire content. Coughing lightly, she placed her now empty glass beside her.

"Gomen nasai Ayanami, is it too spicy for you?" Shinji asked in a worried tone.

Taking a few deep breathes Rei responded, "It is acceptable Ikari- kun, it is fine" The episode left her mouth burning, light headed, and slightly dizzy. However in its own weird way, it tasted rather good, as long as there was enough water to go around.

The rest of the meal was eaten in a comfortable silence, with the exception of Rei making a slight cough or two.

After paying the check, Shinji and Rei made their way back to their apartment. The sun had set and a full moon was present, illuminating the way back to their home. Walking silently, Rei glanced at Shinji out of the corner of her eye.

Ikari-kun...

Son of the Commander, Pilot of Unit 01, and her ally. Nothing more.

But yet...

Trained from the start not to be attached, to be isolated from the world. So that she would complete her missions flawlessly. So that she would complete her mission without hesitation.

And yet...

So that she may complete her destiny. So that she will fulfill her purpose.

However... many times, she would lie in her bed wondering.

If she would be able to.

* * *

They had reached their apartment; Shinji opened the door for Rei to enter. Closing the door behind him he glanced toward Rei. "Ayanami," Shinji said, getting her attention "I think that you should take a shower, you look tired." 

"...Hai"

Indeed she was tired; after all she had a lot on her mind. Grabbing the towel that Shinji handed over to her she walked into the bathroom.

Taking off her uniform and placing them on the floor, she noticed a small basket beside the sink, with a little note inside. Picking up the note Rei recognized it as Shinji's writing.

Dirty Clothes Go Here!

Picking up her clothes, which were laid in a pile on the floor, Rei placed them in the basket and then went to take a shower.

The cold water shocked her at first, sending shivers up her spine. But slowly she began to get accustomed to the cool water running over her body, and she continued to bathe.

Shinji was busy arranging the futon that NERV had supplied over to him for his stay, when suddenly, in the corner of his eye, he saw the bathroom door open. And out came a clean and naked Rei, half covered with a towel.

Wide-eyed and red-faced, Shinji was at a loss for words as he stumbled backwards. Rei, indifferent to the Third Childs erratic behavior, continued to dress. Shinji, who was now facing the wall, waited patiently for Rei to finish dressing. After she had finished, Rei walked over to Shinji, who was now starting to mumble slightly. "Ikari-kun," Rei's voice caused the Third Child to jump slightly. "It is time to rest; our bodies need sleep if it is to heal properly."

"H-hai Ayanami," Shinji responded, still red faced, he slipped into his futon while Rei went into bed. "Good night Ayanami," Shinji said before turning of the light from the floor lamp that he had brought.

"Good night Ikari-kun," Rei responded simply, moments before the Third Child fell asleep.

An hour into the night Ayanami Rei was still awake, "Ikari..." Rei shifted herself so that she was lying on her side, away from Shinji.

"Gomen nasai..."

A few minutes later, Rei too, fell asleep.

End of Chapter 2

Authors note: Yes, I know that I said that I will make it MUCH longer, but hey! This is longer by 400 words. (Basically I just got reaalllly lazy) once again, review it NOW! Or I will come to hunt you down. I don't care whether you're a master author like Michael Crichton or some Eskimo dudes who can't speak English. I appreciate your reviews all the same. REVIEW NOW! And now I promise again, the next chapter will be longer (yeah right) another thing, I know that the thai food sounds out of place but hey, me likie thai food. Yes, I know this chapter kinda sucked, but hey, what can I say? I waz lazzyy.

(Arnold Swazzanegger voice) "Ah'll Be Bahk"


	3. Eva3

Authors notes: Actually my story is not just Drama/Romance but is a combination of 3 humor/drama/romance but lil' old won't let me put on 3 Genres see? And for the development of other characters well... "Mai sohn leaw woi! Kee kiat kean luhang kong kohn uhn kao jai pow! Tae wa... kah pen khon tee jai dee, kah ja yom kean luang kong Misato gab Asuka gor dai" Heh heh heh, that's my answer to it, if you can't understand Thai then... tough! Darn it, I am evil. By the way characters might seem different to people who only watched the anime. Because the characters in the anime and the manga are somewhat different. Anime: Shinj annoying wimp, Asuka snotty snuck up bitch, Rei SUPER quiet and little interest towards Shinji. Manga: Shinji Wimpy but not so annoying, also not as helpless, Asuka: (thinking) more annoying than bratty, also not as mean. Rei not as quiet and more interested towards Shinji than in the anime. (the manga focuses on Rei and Shinji more than the anime) (but that's my opinion however) 

Talk "Blah" Thought 'Blah'

**Life Goes On**

* * *

Metallic green.

It was metallic green.

Is it normal for fried chicken to be metallic green?

The Geneva Convention didnt approve of green metallic food.

Picking up her fork Asuka poked the seemingly hazardous meal that lay before her. "Why is it...green?"

"Hmm?" Misato was busy eating her own meal, which was a silvery white. Still clutching her katana, she looked up at Asuka questioningly.

Placing down her fork, which was now bent beyond recognition, Asuka pushed her dish aside.

"Is something the matter?" Misato asked, this time armed with a Falchion.

Asuka scrunched up her nose, "You call this food?"

"I call this breakfast." Misato replied simply as she continued her fight against her breakfast, which was now fighting its way to freedom

"I'm having none of it," Asuka declared, crossing her arms over her chest.

Misato sighed, "Look, Asuka, I don't have time for this, hurry up and eat your breakfast. It's going to get cold"

"How can I? It's running away," Asuka pointed at her overturned dish, which was slowly crawling away. "And besides, I'm quite sure it was generating its own heat."

Misato, who had just finished her own breakfast, lunged at Asuka's dish and began wrestling manically with it.

Sighing, Asuka made way to the kitchen; perhaps she would be able to find instant noodles or some other easy to make meal that would satisfy her hunger. However, she saw small black feathers littering the ground in front of the kitchen door. Pressing her ear against the door she could hear sounds of what sounded like machine gun fire and the high pitched screeches of something that sounded oddly similar to a certain Alien movie she saw.

Deciding not to enter the kitchen, she grabbed her school bags and headed out to school, fuming.

Misato, who had failed to tame Asuka's breakfast, which was now running free somewhere in Tokyo-3, ultimately decided that it was time for her to go to work, and she too left the apartment.

Unbeknownst to anybody, the kitchen door opened and out came Pen-Pen. Dressed in combat uniform complete with a Russian AK-47, he slammed the door shut behind him. Still clutching the fish that he had fought to get in his mouth, he ran to his high security fridge, complete with machineguns and barbed wire, to prepare for the possibility of a future attack of the leftovers.

* * *

Rei awoke suddenly; the light of the morning sun could be seen streaming through the small cracks from the blinds. Sitting up in her bed, she looked at the floor only to find Shinji's futon folded up neatly in the corner of her room. Wondering where Shinji was she got out of bed and looked around the room. Concluding that Shinji was not into her room, Rei decided to go and take her morning shower. However the smell of breakfast looming over her stopped her in her tracks. Walking over, she glanced toward the kitchen, where the smell seemed to be coming from.

Rei walked over to the kitchen, tilting her head to glance inside; she saw Shinji cooking happily over the stove. Laid out on the kitchen table was a near feast. Toast, jam, pancakes, eggs, bacon, ham and an assortment of different fruits littered the table. Somewhat taken back by the sight of all this food, Rei simply stood by the door way, silent.

Shinji, who placed a carton of orange juice on the table, spotted Rei. "Ohayo, Ayanami. Did you have a good nights rest?"

Rei, who choose not to reply, simply stared at the Third Child, who was now pouring orange juice into a large red jug. "...Ikari-kun? What is the occasion for this meal?"

Shinji placed the carton of orange juice down on the table, "What do you mean Ayanami?"

Rei tilted her head sideways, "There are no special or significant dates this week, and it is neither of our birthdates." Not that Rei ever had a birthday celebration, or any other celebration of that sort. But she knew that certain people found it necessary to have "parties" on certain dates and occasions.

Blushing, Shinji began fidgeting with the apron that he wore. "No occasion Ayanami, it's just that... I've grown accustomed to cooking, I guess." Rei didn't find anything unusual with this, in fact after the incident at the restaurant; she was now starting to enjoy trying out different kinds of food.

"Would you care to sit down?" asked Shinji, who was now biting into a sausage.

Rei walked towards the table and sat down, not knowing where to start, she simply sat and waited.

Shinji, who had already consumed his sausage and was now attacking the fried eggs, noticed that Rei had not yet begun to eat. "You can eat now if you wish Ayanami." Shinji said beckoning towards to food.

Nodding, Rei began nibbling on a piece of toast, which was followed by strawberries with cream, and various fruits.

"Ikari-kun," Rei was staring a bowl of quail eggs. "Where did all this come from?"

"Oh, I woke up kinda early so I decided to walk over to the nearest market to buy some food." Replied Shinji, who had just finished his eggs and was now attacking the ham and bacon.

Rei frowned at this, 'The nearest market or department store is approximately 10 miles away,' that would explain the Third Child's enormous appetite. Deciding not to press the matter further she continued to eat.

After the meal Shinji began cleaning up the table, Rei offered to help but Shinji politely turned her offer down. After he placed the dishes in the sink, he turned on the water and began to wash the dishes.

Standing up, Rei again proceeded to help Shinji wash the dishes.

"It's Ok Ayanami I can clean the dishes myself."

Tilting her head to the side Rei stared at Shinji "It would be faster if both of us did it simultaneously," she reasoned.

"But..."

"Or do you feel my presence to be undesired?"

"N-no, it's not that at all Ayanami p-please help me if you wish." Shinji shook his head frantically.

Rei, greatly relieved, went over the Shinji to assist him in washing the dishes. Having only one sink, the two pilots were forced to wash shoulder to shoulder to shoulder, something that the Third Child was not accustomed to. Blushing slightly, Shinji continued to wash the dishes in silence.

'This is. pleasant,' smiling slightly, Rei continued washing.

* * *

'5 4 3 2 1...'

R-i-i-i-n-n-n-g-g-g!

"Alright! Lunch time!" an extremely happy Touji jumped out of his chair and begun the ritualistic "Lunchtime Dance" making every fabulous lunchtime, free from the teachers boring (yet insanely powerful) monotonous teaching, a celebration.

"C'mon Shinji, lets go eat, I'm starved!"

"Shin-man?"

Touji, noticing Shinji's lack of response, turned around and found the Third Child staring into the distance. Sneaking up from behind, he guided himself so that he was facing the object of Shinji's interest. 'Hmmm. this could be interesting.'

Inhaling a lung full of air Touji decided to make his attack!

"HEY SHINJI! WHATS UP MAN?"

Springing up nearly a foot from his seat, Shinji fell forward, face first onto the cold hard floor.

"Owww, hey, what's the big deal?" Shinji asked, rubbing his nose, which was now swollen.

"I see zat you've chosen zee fair Ayanami monsieur!" Touji mocked with a feigned French accent.

"What?" Shinji asked, "I don't know what you're talking about!" However he was starting to turn a slight hue of red.

"So tell me? Vat iz it zat you like about her? Iz it zee tits?" Touji asked, cupping his hands on his chest in an obscene manner, walking towards Shinji, who was on the floor. "Or iz it her fair blue hair? Or maybe her tight shaven-"

"Hey, wait, STOP! W-what are you talking about?" Shinji, who was now bright red, was struggling to get up.

"You know what I'm talking about." Touji, who was grinning broadly, stepped forward in front of Shinji. "You've got the hots for Rei now, don't ya?"

Shinji, who had now passed the tomato mark in color, shook his head wildly. "N-no, I have no idea what you are saying!"

"Whatever man, I saw you ogling her just now."

"Huh?"

"Sheesh, whatever, just hurry up; we've got some major lunch to eat." And with that Touji walked out of the classroom door.

Shinji, still dazed from his encounter with Touji, walked over to his desk and sat down. Rubbing his eyes, he felt a small tapping on his shoulder. Looking up he saw a pair of red eyes staring back at him.

"Ayanami?" 'Oh shit! She wasn't here just now was she?'

"Ikari-kun?"

'Oh shit here it comes.'

"Would you like to eat lunch with me?"

"...Huh?" Shinji stared back at Rei, who was now walking towards the door. "Oh lunch? O-ok I'd be glad to Ayanami." 'Whew, I guess she didn't hear anything after all.' Picking up his lunch he ran after the hastily disappearing Rei.

'Shinji-kun was... ogling me?'

* * *

'This ought to be a suitable location.' The roof top was currently empty at the moment. Which was all the better. Rei disliked large crouds, mainly because of all the stares that she usually got from other people. Placing her bag on the floor she turned to face Shinji.

"Shall we eat here Ikari-kun?" Rei asked, beckoning on the floor.

"I-if you wish Ayanami"

"Then we shall eat here," sitting down, Rei began opening her lunch bag.

Shinji, sitting down, also took out his lunch bag. Despite the extravagant breakfast that they had had earlier, the lunch that he made was rather ordinary.

Peanut butter and jelly was to be the lunch for both of the pilots.

Picking up his sandwich, Shinji bit into it, savoring the tastes that spread through his mouth. Eating was one of the few pleasures in life that he could still enjoy. For almost every other pleasure was either inaccessible to him or was nonexistent to him.

Looking at Rei out of the corner of his eye, he took in all of her. He noticed small things that he didn't notice before. He noticed that when she chewed her food she would always close her eyes. He noticed how she would stare at the sky after she had swallowed. He noticed many other small things about her. Like how her hair seemed to shine in the sun, how the sun brought out the color of her eyes. How-

"Ikari-kun," snapping back from his other world experience, he noticed that Rei was looking him in the eye. "Why are you staring at me?"

"N-no reason Ayanami, G-gomen." Shinji, bright red, looked in the other direction to avoid Rei's eyes.

"There is no reason to apologize Ikari-kun, you have not done me any harm, nor have you insulted me in any manner," The wind was starting to pick up. Clearing the rooftop of leaves and debris. "And you do not have to avoid my gaze Ikari-kun, I will not harm you."

Shinji looked back at Rei, not wanting to look at her straight into the eye; he focused entirely at her lips. However, slowly he looked up, until their eyes met. Shinji was staring into Rei's red eyes and hers into him. Shinji's heart beat, now rapidly increasing, felt like it was about to burst out of his chest. For a moment, silence was cast down upon the two pilots.

"I'd really hate to interrupt this heart warming moment but I need my lunch"

Snapping out of his semi-hypnotic state, he looked to see who the intruder was.

Standing over him was Asuka Soryu Langley, with the sun at her back she was an impressive and intimidating sight to behold. Although she did seem to be slightly thinner than the last time that they met. Almost as if she was suffering from lack of food.

And knowing Misato's cooking it wouldn't be to surprising if that really was the case.

"Asuka?" Shinji looked into his now empty lunch bag "I-I don't think that I-"

"What? You don't think what? You better have my lunch Third child! I haven't had a decent meal since you left," Grabbing Shinji by the collar, she pulled his face close to hers "Now give me my lunch!"

Shinji again looked into his empty lunch bag, hoping beyond hope that some how a miraculous sandwich would appear suddenly in the small brown paper bag. However all he found was a few bread crumbs and an apple.

"G-gomen nasai Asuka, all I have is an apple," picking the apple from the bag he hesitantly handed it to Asuka "You can have half of my sandwich..."

"What? Eat half of your sandwich? I don't know what you did to that sandwich Third Child but I am not touching it." Pushing Shinji onto the floor Asuka stormed off, but not before taking the apple with her.

Watching Asuka storm off, Shinji brushed the dirt and gravel that had gotten stuck onto his pants when he was pushed down. Picking his now dirty sandwich, which had fallen onto the floor, he walked back into the school, ashamed to have displayed such weakness and cowardice in front of Rei.

Rei quietly watched the spectacle unfold before her. She quietly observed how Shinji took the brunt of Asuka's bitching. Although she did not interfere. This was none of her business, how Asuka treated Shinji shouldn't be any of her concern.

However, unbeknownst to even herself, her left hand was unconsciously clutched into a fist the entire time.

* * *

"I hear that our agent found Shinji, err... 'Sandwiched' between the First and Second Child?"

Fuyutsuki glanced at Ikari from the side of his eye. "If you want to put it that way then, yes."

Leaning back into his chair (something that Gendo has hardly ever done before) he laid there for a moment before speaking up.

"Then it is proceeding faster than anticipated."

Sitting back upright onto his chair, Gendo crossed his fingers in a true Gendo fashion.

"All for the better is it not?" Fuyutsuki glanced down at Gendo out of the corner of his eye.

"Maybe Sensei, maybe. But we have to be certain. I cannot risk this falling apart; I've placed everything I have on its eventual success."

As he proceeded to walk out of Gendo's office he heard Gendo beckon him again.

"Sensei, we cannot risk her coming into contact with the Third Child again. If such an incident were to occur again you know what to do."

Nodding, Fuyutsuki walked out of Ikari's office.

* * *

Authors notes: I know that there was a huge delay, but I went to Cambodia for a week. And then I got sick. Needless to say it hasn't been a very good month. The next chapter should be up fairly quickly. That is unless I get hit by a car or something. I know that this chapter is short but I felt like I had to post something after the long delay.

"I'll be back! (I think)

Whats a pre-reader? Is it where someone reads your work and makes corrections? If it is the case then I need one! Whos gonna be my Pre- reader? "Anyone?" (shouts to an empty hall)I have too much work now, got 2 research papers to write!

My E-mail is


	4. Eva4

Authors notes: how long has this been! Took a while for this chapter to come out hasn't it? What can I say? I was lazy. :D. BTW, reread the first few chapters if you wish, I changed the story a bit, althou its not necessary I just changed it so yea.

Remember speech is "blah" and thoughts are 'blah'

**Life Goes On**

The chirping of cicadas could be heard echoing throughout Tokyo-3. The setting sun illuminated the clouds above, casting the entire city in an orange hue. Two shadows emerged from the distance, elongated to impossible proportions by the setting sun.

The repetitive chirping of the cicadas was silenced momentarily by the crackling of dry leaves being trod upon by Rei's shoes as she walked along the empty streets of Tokyo-3.

To her side was her co-pilot Shinji, who was walking silently by her side. Glancing to her left she could see that Shinji was oddly tense today. Even with a bandage covering half of his cheek and her eyes swollen, she could see the tension that was etched across his face.

They had left school later than usual today because the sensei had the class stay after school for clean up duty. Clean up took most of the afternoon, and a large portion of the evening also. Both of them tired, Shinji and Rei made their way back to their apartment.

The sensei had announced, before the class was let out, that the school prom was coming soon, and that he would very much appreciate it if all the students would attend the last prom of this school. (All future get-togethers after the prom were cancelled because of the minimal number of students that remained in the school.)

-Half and hour before-

"Class" CLAP CLAP

Shinji looked up at the sensei, who was waving his hands in order to get the attention of the entire class.

"All of you can leave now, the room is clean enough."

"Finally, it was clean to start with godda-" a loud remark was heard from somewhere in the crowd but was instantly silenced by a soft thud, as if someone was being punched.

"However, before you leave I have to make an announcement."

Now, the entire class was silent, silently listening to the sensei.

"As most of you should know, the high school prom is coming soon. This is to be the last prom in this school for the foreseeable future. And since this is to be the last prom, I strongly urge all of you to come and attend. The prom will be on the 2nd of June. Remember, this will be the last social event that the Japanese government is willing to sponsor for this school. Again, I ask all of you to attend this prom as this is also my last year in this school; I would like to see all of my students there. Dismissed!

Placing his bucket and mop in the janitors room, Shinji went to the men's washroom to rinse his hands, which were filthy from the cleaning. There was a build up of dust and grime on his pants and shirt. Walking to the sink he twisted the tap, leaving white dust on the tap. As the pure water washed over his hands, he savored the temporary feeling of his hands being cleansed. However, his moment of peace was interrupted by Touji and Kensuke who had just entered the bathroom.

"So," Touji walked to the nearby urinal, "Who you asking to the prom Shin-man?"

Turning off the tap, Shinji dried his hands with a nearby towel. "I haven't given it any thought yet."

"What do ya mean you haven't given it any thought yet?" Touji near shouted as he pulled up his zipper. "Dis is like, the last prom you know."

"Have you given it any thought yet?" Shinji threw the towel into the waste bin because it had a distinct smell of alcohol and bile.

"Thought?" Touji straitened his back and stood tall. "I've already got a date." Touji declared proudly.

"Really? And who would that be?" 'As if I didn't know' Shinji thought to himself.

"The class rep."

Shinji rolled his eyes, 'Thought so.'

"I guess my charm was a bit much for her to handle, she asked me out to the prom y'know, she was like putty in my hands."

"Actually," Kensuke who had remained quiet, suddenly spoke up, "Actually, Touji was the one who asked the class rep out."

Touji shot Kensuke a look that would silence most people who knew the jock, but Kensuke was unfazed. "Also," Kensuke continued, "It was one of the most awkward situations you could possibly imagine. Almost a whole minute went by where both of them were completely quiet." Kensuke looked at Touji. "Redder than tomatoes."

By now Touji was slowly making his way to Kensuke, who saw the impending danger approaching, locked himself into a nearby stall.

"How about you Shinji? Have you asked anyone to the prom?" Kensuke hastily tried to divert Touji's attention to Shinji, because Touji was breaking though the stall's flimsy plastic door.

"Yea, who are you going to ask then Shinji? As if we didn't know..." Touji said, grinning broadly.

"W-what do you mean by that?"

"Awww, C'mon, how much more obvious can it be?" Kensuke slipped out of the stall. "The way that you look at her, staring at her during class, always having lunch with her, need I continue?"

"Yeah, and your always checking her out during your free time." Touji added

Shinji was quiet for a while, although he had a pretty good idea about who they were referring to, he was somewhat hesitant to answer.

"Ayanami?"

"Well no DUH!" Both of them shouted simultaneously. "Your gonna ask her out to the prom right?" Kensuke asked

"Well, I... uh..."

"Aww, come ON, didn't you hear the sensei this will be the last prom for this school, you're not gonna pass up this opportunity are you?"

"I don't think Ayanami ever went to any school dance before. Come to think of it," Touji continued "I don't think she's ever been to any social school event before."

"Yea, and your not gonna invite her to the prom?"

"Well, uhh..."

"Shin-man," Touji grabbed Shinji's shoulder "Yuh might be able to hide it from some people, even yurself, but yuh can't hide anything from yur best pals, yuh know?"

Touji crossed his arms over his chest, "To people like us, it was more than obvious that yuh had the hots for Ayanami. And besides, in the fucked up situation that we are in, with huge-ass robots fighting huger-ass monsters, yuh neva know whats gonna happen tomorrow. I mean you could be walking with her one day and then suddenly a huge-ass monster steps on yuh 'WHAM'" Touji punched the wall for emphasis "An' dats it, yur dead and yuh neva even went on a date with her. Yuh can't let an opportunity like this pass man, cuz you never know what's gonna happen if yuh don't."

"You know what Socrates said man, 'Time misspent in youth is sometimes all the freedom one ever has'" Kensuke smiled as he pushed up his glasses.

"Dude, Socrates neva said that!"

"It doesn't matter ." Kensuke smiled and walked over to Shinji, "When are you going to go on a date with her? When are you going to hold her hand? When are you going to do that? Tomorrow? Tomorrow might never come Shinji, you of all people should know that."

Still slightly awed from the words that had come from the jock and the geek, he remained silent for a while. However, he couldn't stop the tears from welling into his eyes.

And all was quiet as Shinji placed both of his hand on Touji's and Kensuke's shoulders and wept.

"Ikari-kun?"

Snapping out of the daze that he was in, he saw Ayanami staring intently at him. Apparently, while he daydreamed, he had slowly slowed his pace until he was nearly at a standstill.

"Are you well, Ikari? I called you several times, but you didn't acknowledge my calls. Is there a problem?"

"N-no Ayanami, I was just thinking."

"Then let us return to our residence, there are multiple synchronization tests tomorrow, it would be unwise to tire yourself now." Turning around she continued walking down the deserted walkway, kicking up dead leaves as she walked.

Running to catch up with her, he grabbed her arm.

"Ayanami..."

Turning around and surprised by the sudden physical contact, she looked at Shinji questioningly. "Hai?" His hand wasâ€ warm.

"Ayanami, y-you know that the prom is coming up right?" Shinji asked nervously.

"...Hai"

"And you realize that it's almost mandatory that all students must attend," Shinji asked again.

"Hai" She answered again, this time with more strength and certainty.

His heart felt like it was about to burst from his chest, as it was beating extremely fast. "And you also realize that it is customary for each student to come with a date to the prom?"

"Hai" Her answer was more certain this time and her eyes widened with curiosity.

Shinji increased his grip on Rei's arm, almost as if he was drawing the courage from her touch. "You see, Rei, I was just, you know, wondering," Rei stared into his eyes intently, her own heart starting to increase its pace. "If like, you would like to go to the prom with me?" he asked uncertainty. 'Well, that wasn't so hard!' he thought to himself.

After Shinji made his intentions known to Rei, a moment of uncomfortable silence followed.

Rei looked away, into the distance, "However, it is not mandatory to attend the prom."

Shinji felt his heart skip a beat.

"And also attending the prom would not help my ability as a pilot. Nor would it help in boosting my synchronization rate with my Eva."

Shinji released his grip on Rei's arm, his own arm falling lifelessly beside him.

"There is no purpose in going there for me," Rei looked back at Shinji, "It is not necessary for me to attend the prom."

Head down, spirit crushed, Shinji silently turned around walked away.

"Ikari-kun?"

Rei called to him, but he did not stop, he continued walking, ignoring Rei's call.

"Ikari-kun!"

This time Rei called with more force and Shinji stopped.

"...what?"

"I did not decline"

* * *

yes I know its short, yea I know that its been forever, but hey, its not easy writing when ur a senior that comes home at 6 everyday and does hw to 8 and has to practice piano and guitar, plus hw, college applications, SAT's, TOEFL, IELTS, etc. needless to say, lots of real life stuff to get through here. Short wasn't this? 


	5. Eva5

Authors note: I actually forgot about this for a while. That's why it took so long to update. I cant believe I haven't updated in a year, yeesh. Oh well. Cant be helped. Here is the 5th chapter! (if anyones still reading this that is)

Rememba

Speech "Yo mama so fat!"

Thoughts 'Yo mama so fat!'

**Life Goes On**

Two figures stood in the darkness

"Who am I?" One of the voices asked softly.

"Rei." Another one responded, echoing loudly.

"What is my purpose?"

"Eva."

"Why am I here?"

"To obey."

Rei watched her other self, who was dressed in the school uniform, stare back at her intently. Rei, who was bare, merely stared back.

"Why?"

Mirror Rei's eyes softened at this question. Raising her hand, she touched Rei on the cheek. "Because it is your destiny," caressing Rei's cheek as a mother would a child, Mirror Rei continued, "Because it is what you were created for..."

Rei embraced Mirror Rei's hand, holding it to her cheek.

"Created..."

"Yes, created… Rei… you are manufactured, produced… a cheap by product of something that was once…much grander and…" Mirror Rei paused as if thinking of the appropriate word to use, "…alive."

"I am alive." Rei stated firmly.

"To live, you have to be born, Rei. You may exist; you may be and in the end you will die but, you will never have lived"

"To die…" Rei repeated"

"Yes, to die." Mirror Rei said softly, a calm look in her eyes. Because it is why you are here," Mirror Rei's eyes suddenly lost its warmth and her hand clenched, clawing Rei's cheek. "To obey… whether or not you agree, whether not you understand, whether or you care." Mirror Rei's voice rose suddenly as she finished, her breathing become erratic. Rei tried to push mirror Rei away, but mirror Rei's grip on her cheek remained strong. "It is your purpose to pilot Eva, to nourish it, to bond with it." Mirror Rei's eyes began to fill with tears, but her face remained calm and neutral. "You understand don't you? Why you are here…" Rei's cheek, which was being clawed by Mirror Rei's hand, was starting to bleed.

"Yes." Rei managed to shimmer as she squirmed under the pain.

"Yes... yes you do," Mirror Rei whispered her own cheek starting to bleed. "But do you know who you are?"

The new question surprised Rei who suddenly stopped squirming and stared at Mirror Rei.

"You don't, don't you?" Mirror Rei asked dangerously. Rei however, remained silent.

Her Face contorting with anger, Mirror Rei dug her nails into Rei's cheek

"You sick mindless little bitch!" Mirror Rei shrieked; she lunged for Rei grabbing her throat and attempted to suffocate her.

Startled, Rei pushed her away and was surprised how easily Mirror Rei's grip was broken. Rubbing her sore throat Rei stared at Mirror Rei, who was dry heaving.

"You want it to be easy don't you?" She croaked between heaves, "You reason that if you follow orders… no, you don't reason." Mirror Rei sneered and then heaved some more, this time regurgitating LCL. "You just follow…"

Suddenly, Mirror Rei lunged for Rei again, grabbed her wrists and pushed her onto the ground, "You just follow like the tool you are!" Mirror Rei shrieked hysterically. "That's all you are a TOOL!"

Rei could feel the anger rising inside her, her once pale face now flushed, she stared at Mirror Rei with intense dislike burning in her eyes.

"I'm not a tool." Rei whispered softly.

"Oh, but you are! All you do is follow; you do not have a mind of your own. And worst yet, you intend to hurt… him."

Her eyes wide, Rei pushed Mirror Rei off her, grabbed her throat and squeezed with all her might. Mirror Rei tried to fight back but was unable to make Rei relinquish her grip. Rei closed her eyes, and squeezed. Rei could feel her body struggling under her grip but she did not release. Until finally, with one last kick her body lay motionless.

Gasping for air, Rei loosened her hold and slumped sideways onto the cold floor. But when she opened her eyes, she did not see a mirror image of herself this time. But what she saw instead was the cold lifeless blue eyes of a young boy and short black hair.

"No…" Rei said to herself unbelieving. She stumbled a few steps backwards, "NO!" she screamed, clawing her face. How could it be? It was not possible… she would never dream of doing such a… "NO!" She shrieked again this time falling to her knees.

'You intend to hurt him…'

"NO!"

'But you did…'

"NO!" by now her incessant clawing had scratched her face raw and the blood from her temples and face was dripping off her chin.

'And you will…'

"NO!"

But her hysterical shrieks and pleas went unnoticed and uninterrupted. And by the time she finally stopped, her throat was hoarse and raw and only a slight whisper managed to escape her lips as she held her head in her hands, blood slowly dripping of her chin onto a slowly growing puddle below.

And with the soft song of birds singing on warm and brisk new morning, Rei Ayanami slowly opened her eyes and calmly awoke to a brand new day.

* * *

"That's enough for today Shinji."

"Hai, Katsuragi-san." Shinji replied before switching off his intercom.

Collapsing unto her chair, Misato let out a long drawn-out sigh. It had been a very long day. Which was made longer by the realization that going home meant going home to a very angry (and also very hungry, Asuka). For some unfathomable reason Asuka made a declaration that she would not touch, taste or come within a fifteen meter radius of anything that Misato had made for dinner.

She just didn't understand that child; her cooking wasn't that bad… was it? Her thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of a blond haired scientist.

"And yet another successful synchronization test." Placing her coffee mug on the side of the table, Ritsuko grabbed a nearby chair and sat facing the major. "It kind of makes you wonder why we even bother conducting these tests."

Misato simply stared into space. Having no response to Ritsuko's statement Misato remained silent for a few moments.

"Why did the commander have Shinji transferred to Rei's apartment?" Misato finally asked, fooling around with a nearby pen.

Ritsuko took a long sip of coffee, her own personal fountain of youth. "Upon leaving your apartment and settling with Ayanami, Shinji's sync ratio has increased quite substantially during the last couple of days." Ritsuko stated, remembering the shock her and the rest of the crew felt upon seeing Shinji's massive sync improvement.

"But that still does not explain the transfer. The children have always been known for sudden explosions in sync performance." Misato crossed her arms. "He's up to something, I can feel it."

"The commander has always done whatever that was necessary to protect NERV." Ritsuko placed her mug of coffee on the table. "The commander has always done things his own way, whether or not his subordinates approved of it. Why is that to change now?"

"Because he is up to something!" Misato insisted.

"Probably, but what could he be up to? NERV is the only asset that he's got. It's highly unlikely that he will do anything to place NERV in a dangerous situation." Getting up, Ritsuko picked up her mug. "If I were you I'd stop worrying about Shinji and look after your other pilot. There's going to be trouble when you get home."

Misato sighed heavily and covered her face with her hands, She had lived long enough with Asuka to know the full consequences of today's sync test. She'd be lucky to get any sleep tonight.

"But still," Misato continued, feeling much older, "I don't like it. He's just using Shinji as a tool. Regardless of how Shinji thinks or feels."

"Not that much different from how he treats the rest of NERV now is it?"

"No, but when it happens to be a 14 year old boy, I think there should be exceptions. Young teens have been known to be very violent in situations like this."

"Oh relax, Misato. What kind of trouble could a 14 year old possibly muster up?"

"Reporting live from Downtown Tokyo, as you can see the carnage is unbelievable. Cars overturned, roofs on fire, buildings reduced to rubble, it's like a war zone out here-. Oh my god, another building just collapsed! Run, RUN!"

Misato looked at the screen and saw a very familiar red haired girl lighting another Molotov on top of a roof. Sighing Misato slumped down into the chair.

* * *

Placing his school bag on the floor, Shinji looked at the empty apartment; Rei had not returned yet which was not unusual. The first child often came back late, sometimes staying whole nights at NERV.

Opening a window, Shinji allowed fresh air to flow into the stale apartment. Pulling a chair and placing his elbows on the windowsill and resting his chin of his hands. He took in the cool afternoon air, which blew just hard enough to ruffle his hair slightly. It wasn't often that you managed to get peace and quiet like this is Tokyo-3.

'Rei…' Shinji thought to himself. She had accepted his request for the prom yesterday with such enthusiasm that he was rendered utterly speechless. (She smiled slightly).

Prom he couldn't wait until that wonderful day. But it seemed so long from now, especially when there was that risk of an angel suddenly appearing and wiping out the human race. You know, that little thought that always seemed to get stuck in the back of your head?

Sighing, he unceremoniously slumped into his couch which, unfortunately for him, was half eaten away by various rodents and previous owners that had once lived in this apartment prior to him.

Rubbing his sore bottom, he quickly gathered and cleaned up the remains of the couch, and pulled another chair next to the window.

After testing the chair several times, he was reassured of its safety and sat down.

Unfortunately for him, the rare moment of peace and quiet didn't last long. Within moments the third child's eyes closed and he fell fast asleep.

* * *

Shinji was having a most 'interesting' dream, which consisted of an angry Misato, a Toshiba model M45-S355 notebook, a purple watermelon, a powerpuff girl poster, and lots of purple decomposable paper cups. Unfortunately (or fortunately) he was awakened by the slight prods and pokes of Rei Ayanami.

"You did not respond when I called your name." Rei said frowning slightly.

"Gomen, I was sleeping." Shinji yawned and rubbed his eyes, still unable to forget about his dream.

"We have to go" Rei said before turning around sharply and walking toward the door.

Shinji looked at Rei in surprise. "Go?" he stated incredulously, looking at the time. "Go where?"

"To buy my prom dress." Rei stated before walking out the door, causing Shinji to finally forget about his dream.

Although the population of Tokyo-3 was at an all time low, (not many people wanted to live in a place where giant angels were constantly attacking) it was still a city, and had many shops that were open until late at night. Shinji and Rei pushed their way through street 1337, which was one of the cities more popular roads.

"Excuse me." Shinji said as he bumped into a large punk man with a Mohawk so large that Shinji was sure that if shaved of, could be used as a sail for a small boat. Glaring dangerously at Shinji he sneered and continued walking.

Sighing in relief, Shinji pushed forward through all the hustle and bustle. In all of Tokyo-3 there was only one shop that sold dresses. And it lied right in the center of street 1337. Grabbing Rei by the wrist he continued to search for that particular shop. After what seemed like forever, he found the shop that he was looking for.

Upon entering, he was immediately greeted by the clerk, who rushed forward eagerly to meet his customers.

"Good evening, how may I help you?"

'By not smiling." Shinji thought to himself. The clerk had horribly yellow and crooked teeth, which matched perfectly with his horribly ugly and crooked self. With messy hair, warts on virtually every inch of his face and a long nose that pointed downward, he hardly looked the type to sell exquisite clothes. At least that's what the brochure said he sold.

"We're here to-" Shinji began.

"Buy dresses for the prom, but of course" the clerk cut off Shinji. "Please, follow me." The clerk hobbled away.

As Shinji and Rei silently followed the clerk, who was hunched forward in such a way that Shinji kept expecting to be called 'master' they passed a large collection of odd and foreign objects. Some hung from walls, but many were in large glass displays.

"I see you've taken an interest in my collection." The clerk said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"H-hai…"

"Yes, yes, isn't it wonderful? I inherited all of it from my uncle who passed away, leaving this for me. Apparently he owned some company called 'Ripley'. Ripley, Ha! Believe it or not that company made quite a bit of money back in the old days."

Shinji's lost track of time as he followed the clerk down the halls passing many extraordinary objects. However, he lost interested after he saw the 15th shrunken head.

It was a relatively short walk to the dress section, but what amazed Shinji was the sheer size of the place. There were thousands upon thousands of dresses in this room alone; so many that a special ladder was needed to remove ladders from the top shelves.

"W-Where did you get all of this?" Shinji asked dumfounded, he had never seen such a collection in his entire life.

"Mostly passed down from generation to generation." The clerk said proudly, noticing Shinji's facial expression. "Tailoring has been a family business since as long as I can remember. With an exception of that Ripley fellow, but he was always the nut in the family." The clerk said wagging his finger at Shinji.

"Please, feel free to look around." The clerk said to the pair of them who were still in awe with the huge amount of dresses around them. "And don't hesitate to call me if you need anything." And with that the clerk left the pair of them to browse.

After Shinji had recovered form the initial shock he began to realize what a vast collection of dresses this man owned. There were kimonos, dresses from France, dresses made of silk, some of cotton, and even some that Shinji highly suspected to be made out of weaved wood.

"This should be adequate." Rei picked the first dress that was within her reach., and looked at Shinji for approval.

Shinji looked at Rei then at the dress, then back at Rei, then back at the dress, then back at Rei again. Walking to Rei he took the dress from her and placed it back on the clothes hanger

Confused, Rei looked at Shinji, then at the dress that was hanging on the clothes hanger "Is the dress unsuitable?"

"W-well… I guess it is acceptable for err…" Shinji suddenly blushed bright red, for the dress that Rei choose happened to be on of the famous 'Play Boy' Bunny costumes. And the thought of Rei wearing that to the prom well…

"Ikari-kun?"

"…"

Ikari-kun?"

"…"

"IKARI-KUN?"

"H-huh?Wa?"

"Your bleeding." Rei stated simply looking at Shinji's nose which, sure enough was dripping blood.

"Ehh?" Shinji blush became a magnificent shade of magenta and he hastily searched for his handkerchief. Fumbling around in his pocket he somehow managed to lock his belt around his wrist which in turn caused his handkerchief to become tangled with the handle of his backpack, which got tangled with his pant legs.

Rei in the meantime was watching this very clumsy spectacle unfold silently and as she watched she did something that she had not done in a very very long time.

She laughed.

* * *

Well, that's the end of that chapter, I think the chapters should actually update faster now, now that I've actually got time. Anybody still reading this?  


	6. Eva6

Authors Notes: this is probably the fasted update I've ever done, gotta write a lot before college starts (shudder)

"The essence of zoolander is pikachu" speech

'The essence of zoolander is pikachu' thoughts

**Life Goes On**

Rei clutched the shopping bag close to her body as she walked down the deserted streets of street 1334. It was snowing heavily and she could feel the cold biting into her. Despite being so heavily clothed that the only part of my face that was exposed to the cold was her eyes, it was snowing so hard that even her thick jacket couldn't keep her warm from the freezing weather.

She had stayed at that dress shop for hours, unable to decide on what dress to choose. Shinji had explained to her that the prom was a 'special' occasion and that she was to be very selective about what dress she chose. But she didn't quite understand what he meant by that, so she kept quiet.

"But the question is what do 'you' want Ayanami." Shinji-kun asked, exasperated.

He was getting tired and Rei knew it.

'Any dress that would suffice.' she thought to herself. And yet, she wanted so much more. But she wasn't supposed to, she was to follow orders.

There were a few dresses that caught her attention, but it always seemed to lose its appeal as she ran her fingers along its material. There was just something unsuitable about each one.

She ran her fingers along a black satin dress, it was smooth, yet she felt its fabric scratch her fingers. Black was always an appealing color to her. It symbolizes life and regeneration…

'And death.' she thought to herself.

Death is universal. Eventually every single person will die. Regardless of the life that you live, once you die your story is at end.

Rei would never die, however.

"Now, you can't rush a girl when she's choosing a prom dress now can you?" Rei instinctively turned to see who had just made that statement. And to the entrance of the room stood an old lady with spectacles and hair tied in a bun.

You had to live first before you could die.

"Especially when it's her first one." As she walked down she beamed at the both of them. "My name is Margaret, dears." She introduced herself, "Ben told me that you two had come, and he knows unprofessional shoppers when he sees it." She smiled warmly at Shinji and Rei, although she was old, there was a certain youthfulness about her.

And you had to be born to live.

"Tsk tsk tsk, we can't have him here while we choose a dress now can we?" and with that she shoed Shinji-kun out of the room.

Rei never was born.

"Ever bought a dress before, dear?" she asked, turning to Rei, her large eyes twinkling. "Bah, what does it matter?" she said before Rei could answer, "Buying a dress is always a challenge. So have you got anything in mind?"

She was created.

"…Iie"

"Well, that's not a problem." she said smiling, "lets get to work."

And she despised herself for being that way.

* * *

Rei held the dress that Margaret had chosen for her. It was a red silk dress. 'It would go wonderfully with your eyes.' Margaret had said. 

Red.

Rei detested red. Every time she looked into the mirror, she saw two red orbs staring back at her. But what did it matter, what she wore? She had her orders, but she could already feel herself fighting against it.

As she slipped on the dress, she could feel the silk slide against her skin. It was a welcoming change, as the texture of plug suits and uniforms were rough.

She smoothed out the dress and observed herself in the mirror.

"Are you done yet, dear? Come on out and let me have a look at you!" Margaret called out to Rei.

Opening the door to the changing room she made sure to close it behind her, and she turned to face Margaret.

"I do believe we have a winner." She said enthusiastically, clapping her hands together. "You have such beautiful eyes dear. You'll have to beat the boys off with a stick." She said admiringly. "That boy will be putty in your hands at the prom." Margaret said winking at Rei.

Well, perhaps red wasn't so bad…

"No need to be shy dear." Margaret said, smiling at Rei's blush. "You want to look nice for your boyfriend don't you?"

"……………………………………………………………………………………………Hai……………………………………………………………………"

"Now, now dear, no need to be so shy, you're almost as red as the dress." Margaret was grinning ear to ear as she spoke to Rei, obviously amused at her chagrin.

"Now get undressed, we can't let him see the dress before the prom now can we?"

And with that, she ushered Rei back into the changing room.

However, to their bad luck, right after Rei bought the dress, it began to snow heavily; forcing Shinji and Rei to buy multiple coats and jackets, which Margaret and Ben were nice enough to give a discount on.

And now, halfway to the apartment, it was snowing harder than ever.

Rei was starting to feel the cold of the blizzard, and started to shiver.

'So cold,' Rei thought to herself, as she tried to warm her hands. But it was to no avail. Tucking her hands under her arms she trudged forward.

Suddenly she felt someone cover her with another jacket. "I hope this helps Ayanami." Turning to look, she saw a concerned Shinji who was wearing one less jacket. "It's horribly cold."

No, Rei thought to herself, as she pulled the jacket on tighter, her blush hidden by the scarf that she wore.

She had never felt so warm.

* * *

"Quick Ayanami, get in!" Shinji said as he opened the door. He quickly closed it after she had entered the apartment. 

"We better take a bath." Shinji said, since both of them were soaking wet. "You can go first Ayanami." He offered.

"Hai." Ayanami avoided eye contact with him as she entered the bathroom. Closing the door behind her, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. What she saw in the reflection was something foreign and horrible..

Removing her clothes she dropped it into a nearby basket and stepped into the bathtub. She turned on the shower, letting the warm water rinse over her, washing away the cold.

But it did not wash away the cold that she felt inside. The fear of what was to come. And the pain she knew that would follow.

'I do not want to do it.' She thought to herself as the warm water ran down her slim body. 'I-I do not want to lose him.' She stood in the shower for several more minutes, not moving until she finally decided that she was clean. Turning off the shower, she stepped out of the tub and dried herself with a towel.

The mirrors in the bathroom were steamed up because of her shower. She lifted her hand and pressed it against the mirror. Stalling, she held it there for a while. Then suddenly she wiped her hand across the mirror, revealing what should have been her reflection.

But it was not.

It was her and yet, it wasn't.

Mirror Rei stared back at her, frowning. 'Ikari' it whispered silently.

Stumbling backwards, Rei tripped over the basket of clothes causing her to fall on the floor. While she sat there stunned, Shinji's jacket fell in front of her, covering her. She picked it up, 'It's still warm' she thought to herself as she held it in her hands. She felt her eyes burn. "It's not fair." She whispered, hugging her knees.

Resting her head on the jacket, she felt something moist slide down her cheeks. Pulling her head back, she saw that the jacket was wet. Reaching up she touched her cheek.

It was wet. And the first time in her life, Ayanami wept.

For almost an hour she cried, sitting naked on the bathroom floor. Oblivious to the concerned questions and shouts of the third child outside.

"Ayanami, are you ok?" She still didn't answer him.

His knocking was getting firmer and his voice rising slightly in panic, "Ayanami, please answer if you're ok!"

Rei remained silent, head buried in his jacket.

Shinji opened the door and entered, "A-Ayanami, are you alright?" His voice constricted with worry. And when he saw her curled up on the floor he rushed to her. "Ayanami, what's… what's wrong?" he asked softly.

'B-but, I can't, I mustn't…'

She could feel her mind closing to the world outside, all was shut out.

Rei raised her head and looked at Shinji, who looked surprised to see her crying. "Ayanami?" He asked. She didn't hear him; she didn't hear anything right now. Not her orders, not her training, not the sound of the machinery, it was just her and Shinji.

'I don't want to lose you.' She thought to herself, more tears running down her cheek. Reaching out, she caressed Shinji's cheek, and kissed him.

* * *

Shinji couldn't sleep. Not after what had happened in the bathroom. After Rei had kissed him, she had refused to move for the better part of the hour. Shejust stayed there, silently hugging Shinji's neck while he sat, dumbfounded and confused. And now he was lying on his futon, dumbfounded and confused. However, Rei was still next to him; holding his arm as she slept soundly. She had refused to let go of Shinji, clinging on to him desperately, almost as if she was afraid that he'd disappear if she let go of him. Exhaling deeply he looked over at Rei, who was fast asleep. This was more that what could be said for him, he'd be lucky to get any sleep tonight. 

Touching his lips, he turned away from Rei and pulled the sheets over his head to hide his lopsided grin from the world.

Little did he know that just before he managed to pull the sheets over his head a small camera on the corner of the room had recorded his every move.

* * *

Morning, one of the most wonderful and refreshing moments you could ever experience. A moment of life, of rebirth and happiness. That is of course if you were a morning person, which the two residents of Katsuragi's apartment were not. 

"MISATO!"

"Not again." Misato groaned, covering her head with a pillow. Every morning a grumpy and sulking Asuka would drag herself out of bed, crawl out of her room and worm her way to the kitchen. And every morning she would find the kitchen Shinji-less and the dinner table bare. And every morning she would demand that Misato bring back Shinji so that he may cook again.

Pulling the pillow over her head again, she attempted to block out the sounds of the second child's bellowing.

"MISATO!" Asuka bellowed again, this time banging on her door, "WAKE UP!" but it was to no avail. After multiple mornings beginning in this fashion, Misato took the liberty of buying earplugs.

"When. Will. You. Make. Shinji. Come. Back?" she asked pounding on the door with each word.

But there was no response, pressing her ear to the door, she could hear the faint snores of Misato. However, Asuka Langley Soryu did not become the number one pilot by giving up.

'Second best.' Asuka reminded herself, fuming. Storming out of the apartment she conceived of a plan to rouse the sleepy major.

After she had heard the door to the apartment close, Misato relaxed once again, content that Asuka had gone somewhere else to blow off some steam.

But she had barely closed her eyes when a loud banging caused her to jump from her bed.

"WAKE UP!" Asuka was banging outside Misato's window. Now normally this would have been more of an annoyance than anything else butt they were floors up. Scrambling to the window Misato hastily opened it and pulled the angry pilot inside.

* * *

And that's the end of that chapter. I'm sorry if it wasn't very well written. It was kind of a rush job. When I finish I plan on rewriting the whole thing anyways. 

So until next time………. Cheerio.

PS: constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!


	7. Eva7

Author's notes: Yes, in Evangelion there is no winter, but if there's no winter, there can be no snow scene can there:D. Also, to anyone who wants to link this to their page or smth like that, feel free to do so, just don't alter it in any way J

Speech "Yo mama so fatzorz! Nyuk nyuk nyuk!"

Thoughts 'Yo mama so fatzorz! Nyuk nyuk nyuk!'

**Life Goes On**

'What do I feel?'

Rei floated, seemingly free of the restraints of gravity, in an infinite space of empty white.

'What do I know?"

Unclothed, she floated, absolutely alone.

"Who are you?"

"I am you." Mirror Rei spoke softly, her voice coming from behind Rei.

"And you are me." Rei responded.

"We are the same."

"Yet we are different."

"I am me"

"And I am me."

"We are still one."

"And we are not."

Mirror Rei played with Rei's hair as she spoke, "It will have to end soon."

"But I still have time."

"It is your duty to end it."

"But it brings me joy", Rei hugged herself and curled into a fetal position, her head tucked between her arms.

"And when you end it, it will bring you pain."

Mirror Rei embraced Rei from the back, holding her lovingly in her arms and resting her head on Rei's shoulder.

"But I don't want to hurt." Rei whispered.

"But it will." Mirror Rei held Rei's hand in her own and squeezed softly. "This cannot last." She whispered, as she held Rei, "Even you understand this." Mirror Rei said gently, cradling Rei in her arms.

"But I don't want it to end."

Suddenly, the vast emptiness disappeared and Both Rei's were in a dirty room, with an unmade bed, bandages on the floor, and a pair of glasses on a nearby shelf. It was morning, but the only light that could be seen was a few streaks on light that managed to penetrate through the multiple curtains that covered the windows.

"But you will end it" Mirror Rei said, still holding Rei in her arms. "Because you cannot disobey." Both Rei's we're now kneeling, facing each other, with Mirror Rei wearing a plug suit.

"Because you are not made to disobey." Mirror Rei held Rei's face in her hand as she spoke, "And you don't want to disobey. Pulling Rei to her, she placed Rei's head on her shoulder.

"You weren't supposed to disobey." Cooed Mirror Rei as she rested her head on Rei's, rocking her back and forth softly.

"Oh, why did you disobey?" Mirror Rei suddenly stopped rocking, and sat still as she cradled Rei.

"Why, oh why, did you do it?" Mirror Rei asked again, this time getting louder.

"WHY!" She shrieked. Catching Rei off guard, she grabbed Rei's hair and pushed her face to the floor. "WHY!" She pulled Rei's head up and smashed it onto the ground. WHY! WHY!" "WHY! WHY! WHY!" Rei's face collided with the floor with such ferocity that it broke her jaw and several teeth came loose. "WHY DID YOU DISOBEY!" Bleeding profusely, she tried to fight back, tried to defend herself. But Mirror Rei was too strong; she ignored Rei's futile efforts and pressed Rei's head to the floor, refusing to let her up.

"You... don't know what you've done..." Mirror Rei was panting heavily; loosing her balance, she supported herself with one arm, smearing the dirty floor with Rei's blood. Her other hand still tightly clutching the hair of the semi-conscious Rei. "You knew... the entire time...what had to be done..." she clenched her fist so tightly that her finger nails tore into Rei's scalp sending sharp pains throughout her temple. "And yet... you still... you still..." Mirror Rei was sobbing hysterically as she held onto Rei's hair, face contorted.

By now, Rei's face was barely recognizable; bruised and broken, Rei tried to talk to her mirror self, anything to prevent her from further hurting her.

"I-" Rei started, but was abruptly stopped by Mirror Rei, who smashed her face into the floor again, this time applying her body weight.

"SHUT UP!" Mirror Rei shrieked, eyes wide and throat hoarse from screaming. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

"Shut up…" Panting heavily, she let go of Rei's hair, causing Rei's head to fall unto the floor with a loud crack. Lifting herself up, she left Rei face down, dirty, bleeding, and naked on the floor.

"It would've been so simple..." Mirror Rei whispered, as she walked away, Rei slipping from consciousness, "But now... such a betrayal…"

Unforgivable

* * *

"Shinji and Ayanami are getting rather close aren't they?" Kensuke commented as he watched Shinji and Rei sitting under a tree from the class room window. 

"Well, after such an inspiring speech on my part, it's only natural that Shinji would be inspired" boasted Touji, sipping from a can of soda pop.

It was half-way through the lunch hour and the classroom was deserted. Since it was snowing heavily outside, and the schools in Tokyo-3 weren't designed for winter and thus had no heaters, it was equally cold outside as it was inside. Thus the windows were all closed and most of the students were huddled close together to save warmth; except for Touji and Kensuke who both sat next to a window.

"Mm..." Rolling his eyes, Kensuke grunted.

Despite the bitter cold, Shinji and Rei were sitting under a large tree. As usual, Shinji was doing most of the talking, with Rei listening and occasionally nodding or smiling slightly.

"Wonder what he sees in her..." Touji wondered out loud, leaning on his chair, legs propped up on the table. He turned to look out the mirror, "But then again, I wonder what she sees in him."

"I'd ask the class rep the exact same thing." Kensuke teased with narrowed eyes and a grin. "What, oh what, does she see in him."

"Shut up!" Touji snapped suddenly, turning towards Kensuke, blushing.

"All right, all right." Kensuke said, waving his hands in front of him in an attempt to keep the peace. The last thing he wanted was an embarrassed and violent Touji in his hands.

"What's going on there?" Came a voice from behind them.

The pair frowned at the unmistakable voice of the devil. "Nothing that would interest you, Demon Queen." Shouted Touji; loud enough for the class to hear.

"Tsk-tsk-tsk." Asuka waved her finger in front of Touji, "Such language! I guess you'd better buy me luch, or I'll tell Hikari about the time you and Kensuke snuck into the girl's bathroom."

"You wouldn't!" Touji sat upright instantly, looking at Asuka in shock.

Grinning ear to ear, Asuka cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted. "Hikari-channnnnn!"

"All right, all right, you win." Touji said quickly to shut up Asuka, worried that the class rep would come over.

Asuka placed her finger on her chin and thought about what to order today. "Let's see… I want the chicken fettuccini and a triple chocolate cake."

"Nani? That's two of the most expensive items on the menu!" Touji said angrily, outraged.

"Well, if anyone's worth it, it's me, now hop to it! I'm hungry!" Asuka sat down ungracefully on a chair next to Touji and crossed her arms.

Shaking his head, Touji stood up and walked towards the exit. "Bitch…" he muttered as he went to get Asuka's food.

"Hikari-channnnnn!"

"Fine, fine." Raising his arms in defeat, Touji left.

Satisfied at how she dominated Touji, Asuka turned her attention to Kensuke. "So what were you two talking about?"

"Why do you care?" Kensuke said lazily, playing with his toy tank.

"Spill it! It's about wonder girl and the amazing Shinji isn't it?"

Kensuke sighed. Everyday was the same thing. Everyday Asuka would come up to either Touji or Kensuke and demand to know where Shinji was. And quite honestly, Kensuke was starting to find it quite tiring. "Yea," Placing his toy tank on the table, Kensuke carefully opened his backpack and removed a small jet fighter. "They're sitting over there underneath a tree." Kensuke pointed outside the window as he played.

Asuka feigned un-interest, pretending to take a quick glance outside the window. But as soon as she took her quick peek, she found herself transfixed at the scene in front of her.

They look so happy, she thought to herself. And suddenly, despite the full classroom, despite the fact that her best friend was a mere three meters away, despite the fact that there was an annoying stooge who played with toys like a retarded five year old, and all the people surrounding her, Asuka felt alone.

"Here's your goddamn food." Touji placed the bag in front of Asuka.

Touji's voice snapped Asuka out of her daze. Staring furiously at Touji, Asuka violently shoved the food off the table, spilling its contents onto the floor. "I don't want your stupid food!" Asuka shouted angrily, drawing the attention from the entire classroom.

"WHAT? But I just bought it!" Touji shouted, outraged.

Asuka stood up and kicked the box of food from the floor onto Touji's shoes. "I'm sure you'll find a use for it." And with that, Asuka left the room.

Shocked, Touji simply watched as Asuka left the room. "That bitch…" he said as he sat down next to Kensuke and propped him legs back up on the table. "How could Shinji live with her? I'd lose if after a few hours with her."

"Mmm…"

"Fine, play with your toy." Touji leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes.

"Still, I never thought I'd see the day when Shinji and Ayanami would get together... You think it'll last?" Kensuke asked out of the blue.

"How would I know? I ain't a fortune teller."

"How about you and the class rep?"

"Kensuke… I know where you live." Touji warned.

"Awwww, touched a nerve did I?" taunted Kensuke, as he placed a big pink heart shaped hat on Touji's head, "Big mean Touji doesn't like to show his soft and fluffy side."

* * *

Rei watched silently as Shinji took a bite out of his meal. It has been nearly 2 weeks since she kissed him, and although things more or less reverted to normal the following morning, the two of them have been getting closer ever since. 

'Has it really been two weeks?' Rei thought to herself. Time had passed so quickly when she was with Shinji that entire days would pass seemingly in an instant. She spent more of her free time with Shinji now, and when she wasn't with Shinji, she would be thinking about him. He was always on her mind, and it drove her insane.

Every moment that she was awake, every time her mind wandered in the shower, during every class, she would be thinking about him. Her once quite and silent nights would be spent laying awake thinking about him.

But every time she met him, every moment that she spent with him, whenever she was close with him, or when he talked to her, the chaos of her thoughts would suddenly become quiet, and she would be at peace.

'What do I feel?' she asked herself.

"Aren't you going to eat, Ayanami?"

Rei suddenly found Shinji staring back at her with a curious expression on his face.

"H-hai." Rei quickly reverted her gaze and stared into her binto, blushing and heart pounding. Trying to calm herself she picked up her chopsticks and attempted to eat. But her nervousness caused her to fumble her chopsticks and she had trouble picking her food.

"Here, Ayanami."

Shinji was holding a piece of fruit in his chopsticks and was presenting it to Rei. "Have some."

Unsure of the course of action she was supposed to take, she remained motionless.

"Have some, Ayanami." Shinji blushed a magnificent shade of magenta as he held the chopsticks in front of Ayanami.

For what seemed like hours, Rei simply stared at the chopsticks, until finally, much to Shinji's relief, she opened her mouth and took a bite.

"Oi'ishi…" She said softly, after she swallowed, and Rei too, turned to a magnificent shade of magenta.

Thankfully, since Shinji had read in magazines that it was romantic to feed someone, but what he was supposed to do after that he did not know, they were soon interrupted by a loud crash from the fourth floor; followed by, "KENSUKE, DIE!", and several more crashes.

After all the noise had subsided, which took approximately 3 minutes, several other voices could be heard, including an angry class rep. By then all the ruckus had drawn a large crowd of people, who stood watching the classroom from the yard, as it was possible to see the occasional flying table or chair. Shinji grabbed Rei's arm and motioned her to get up. Surprised, Rei stood up immediately and was quickly guided away from the crowd by Shinji.

They walked for several minutes; unsure of where she was being led, Rei remained quiet and obediently followed. They walked for nearly 10 minutes, until finally, they reached a large bush. A dead end.

"Ikari-kun," Rei finally spoke, "Where are we?"

"Hold on, we're almost there." Pushing branches aside, Shinji trudged through the foliage. Staying right behind him, she followed as he pushed forward. For several minutes they pushed through, until finally they were clear. And what she saw took her breath away.

The vegetation stopped abruptly and formed a near perfect circle around the both of them. Within the circle was a carpet of wild Camellia Sasanqua; pink flowers that can survive the brutal winters of Japan. Directly above them, the canopy covered the circle and blocked most of the light, save for a few random streaks that penetrated through and illuminated the pink flowers below.

"The Sasanqua went extinct after Second Impact." Shinji kneeled and looked at a flower, "But I found some seeds and planted them here." Shinji sat, leaning on a large stone that stood in the middle of the circle, "and I've been growing them ever since…"

Rei followed Shinji and sat down next to him. "It's beautiful." She said softly.

"Not as beautiful as you." he said, blushing.

Rei couldn't help but smile as she nuzzled on Shinji's shoulder, holding onto his arm in the sea of flowers.

'Arigato... Shinji-kun.'

The two of them stayed there for hours, silently enjoying each others company, until the sun had set, and the Sasanqua and become purple from the moon's blue light.


	8. Eva8

Authors notes: Not much I guess, except that I could use a doughnut. And DUDE, I just saw the HOTTEST Korean I've ever seen! She was on the Tyra Banks show Yes, yes I watch tyra (hot girls) but my GOD, she was SO GODDAMN HOT! ARGGGGGGG! And by the way, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, it helps me improve as a writer and I would be grateful if you would give me tips or tell me what you think needs to be changed. Thanks. And about the violence of Rei's dreams, yea, it's a bit too violent. I was in a bad mood the days I wrote it.

**Life Goes On**

"Is he awake?"

"SHH! Quiet fool, you don't want to wake him up yet do you?" The other figure whispered angrily as they hovered over the still sleeping Shinji.

"Forgive me, brother I have shamed us–"

"Whatever, just help me with this, if we both grab the ends of the futon we can carry him without waking him."

The two figures, who were dressed in comical Ninjitsu costumes, quietly tiptoed to the sides of the futon and picked up the edges and carefully lifted Shinji.

"Man he's heavy." The ninja with glasses grunted as he struggled to keep his balance under the combined weight of Shinji and the futon.

"Shut up and lift! You want to be in the military don't you?" The tall ninja hissed accusingly.

"Where are you taking Ikari-kun?" Came a soft voice to their right.

Suddenly freezing, the two ninja's slowly turned to the direction of the voice and saw a young girl with blue hair and red eyes.

"Who are you?" Rei asked the two stupefied ninjas.

"We have failed our mission of stealth!" the ninja with glasses wailed. "We are not worthy to live anymore, kill me now my brother, for I cannot live with this shame."

"Oh, shut up, Kensuke," the tall ninja said, rolling his eyes and hitting Kensuke on the side of the head. Pulling off the cloth that covered his mouth, Touji smiled sheepishly at Rei

"Ohayo, Ayanami!"

"…Where are you taking Shinji-kun?" Rei asked again.

"Well you see, you know how the school closes for a five day weekend before prom?"

"…"

"Yea, well, me and the rest of the gang was going to go to da beach. Y'know, a lil trip before the prom."

"... I see…"

"Yea, and we weren't sure if Shinji here was going to go," Touji tilted his head towards Kensuke, "So we figured that if Shinji 'mysteriously' woke up at the beach" Kensuke quoted with his fingers. "He'd be more inclined to stay."

"…"

"So you up for it, Ayanami?" Touji asked hopefully.

Rei looked at the still sleeping Shinji, who looked disturbingly similar to a soggy pretzel, due to the position that the futon enveloped him as Touji and Kensuke carried the sides.

The beach? It is an unnecessary waste of time that has absolutely no benefits to my piloting abilities. It's against regulations for pilots to leave without informing superiors, and I more than certain Major Katsuragi would not approve of this, it is highly unprofessional.

No, Rei thought to herself. There will not be a trip to the beach, as it was not required and it seems that Shinji is being taken against his will; Rei looked at the still sleeping Shinji.

"Of course, you and Shin-man here gets the same room." Touji winked.

"I'll go pack our belongings…" and with that Rei quickly scuttled away.

"See? I told you everything would be ok." Kensuke said, giving the thumbs up to Touji, as soon as Rei was out of sight.

"Shut up and help me carry him," Touji said angrily as he lifted Shinji's futon, "I can't believe you talked me into wearing these Ninjitsu uniforms. I feel like such a dweeb."

"So are they coming?" Hikari poked her head through the open door.

"Like he has a choice." Touji grinned maliciously at Shinji as they exited the door.

'Such boys.' Hikari thought to herself, sighing in expiration. Hearing a sound coming from the kitchen Hikari went to investigate. There she saw Rei, who was packing a cup, 3 slices of bread, and a brazier into a backpack. "Ohayo, Ayanami-chan." Hikari greeted Rei. "What are you doing?"

"I am packing." Rei responded nonchalantly.

"I can see that," Hikari said, amused. "Come, I'll help you pack." Grabbing a nearby bag, and leading Rei to the bedroom, she walked to the closet and started packing. "You don't shop a lot do you?" asked Hikari, noticing that Rei and Shinji both wore only one type of clothing. School uniforms.

"Wow," Hikari suddenly spotted the red dress, "This is beautiful." Hikari picked up the dress and held it in her hands. "Is this for the prom?"

"Hai."

"Well, I think it suits you very well." Hikari said sincerely.

"Arigato, Hokari-san." Rei smiled at Hikaris compliment.

Surprised, Hikari stared at Rei. In her entire life she had never seen Rei smile. "Call me Hikari," Hikari smiled back.

"Arigato, Hikari-san."

'Well, it's an improvement from Horari-san." Hikari thought to herself, "Come," Hikari placed the dress back into the closet. "Let's finish packing, every ones waiting for us."

"Hai."

* * *

"Let me GO!" Shinji shouted from his futon cage. 

"Only if you promise to go!" Kensuke and Touji taunted, who were both prancing around Shinji, poking him with sticks, who was tied inside the futon with rope and thus resembled a giant caterpillar.

"No, untie me!" The only part visible of Shinji was his head, which popped out from inside the futon.

Touji sighed loudly, "I guess we'll have to use… 'That'… Kensuke."

"It appears so, this ones will is strong." Kensuke said, solemn.

"Forgive us Shinji, but you left us no choice." Touji mock cried as he reached into his pocket and withdrew a glass jar. "Forgive us." Touji repeated as he unscrewed the lid and tilted the jar forward to show Shinji the contents.

A green, yellow striped, hairy caterpillar.

Touji happily plucked it out of the jar and placed it just below Shinji's chest. "Oh, look, it thinks it's you're mother!" exclaimed Touji who was unable to hide his glee as the caterpillar crawled slowly towards Shinji's neck.

Shinji snapped. Twisting around, he rolled across the floor in an attempt to rid himself of the hideously hairy caterpillar. However, it was all in vain, and the only thing that Shinji succeeded in was creating a cloud of dust that enveloped him. And the caterpillar was still crawling up his neck.

"Alright, alright!" Shinji surrendered, "I'll go. Can you please take the caterpillar?" Shinji broke into a sweat as the caterpillar edged closer towards him.

"Fine, we'll take the horrid beast off you." Touji picked up the caterpillar and placed him in the jar.

"Aren't you going to let it go?" Kensuke asked as he untied Shinji.

"Naw, might be useful later." Touji said as he pocketed the jar.

"What are you boy's doing?" Hikari asked as she walked down the stairs from Rei's apartment, carrying a bag full of clothes.

"Great news!" Kensuke said happily, "Shinji has agreed to come with us!"

Frowning, Hikari looked at Shinji who was ever so slowly being untied by Kensuke. "You didn't force his or anything did you?"

"Nani?" Touji and Kensuke asked, outraged. "What made you think such a thing?"

"Call it a hunch," Hikari looked at Shinji who was still trying to free himself from the futon of caterpillar death. "Come on, it's an hour's walk to the train station."

"What about Ayanami?" Shinji asked, finally free from the restraints of the futon.

"She'll be down soon" Hikari replied, "I gave her something different to wear." Hikari whispered to Shinji, winking.

"So," Shinji turned to Touji, ignoring Hikari, which caused her to puff up in indignation. "Why the beach? It's winter."

Kensuke and Touji both grinned, "See that's the thing, its winter 'here'." "But due to some freak weather, its summer up north." Kensuke finished.

"Kinda like that Little Nemo thing taken to extremes." Touji said matter-of-factly.

"Actually it's called El Niño." Kensuke corrected. "I think Little Nemo was some movie a few years ago about some fish that snorted crack and went around the world fighting evil fish with a gay shark as a partner."

"Uhuh?" Hikari asked, skeptical.

Kensuke shrugged. "I dunno, but it got excellent reviews."

They were so busy talking that they did not notice when Rei came down the stairs. She was wearing a frilly pink skirt that matched perfectly with a flowered blouse and a large pink bow tied in her hair.

"Isn't she so kawaiiiiiiii?" Hikari squealed happily when she saw Rei. "I choose the outfit myself."

"Figures." Touji muttered under his breath, ignoring the evil eye Hikari cast in his direction. 'Although, Hikari did do a fine job' Touji thought to himself. He had never seen Ayanami so pretty.

Shinji however, was struck dumb. Mouth agape and eyes wide he stared at Rei. He agreed completely with Hikari. Right now, Rei was pretty goddamn kawai'i.

"Well, at least Shinji likes what he sees." Touji said, noticing Shinji's obvious approval of Rei's current apparel.

"Anyways," Hikari said loudly, gaining everyone's attention. "We better get going." Hikari checked her watch. "We have to get to the train station in an hour."

* * *

"Dude, like, seriously, I've heard of ghetto trains, but this take's it to a whole new level." Kensuke said in awe as he sat down in his seat, which was obviously glued together with what appeared to be prehistoric chewing gum. "I mean, seriously, you'd think with all the money the government has making the Eva's they could afford some better trains. 

"I don't mind that as much as something else." Touji muttered, gloomy.

"What did you say?" Asuka kicked Touji in the shins, causing him to buckle over in pain.

"OW! Goddamn it! You demon spawn bitch!" Touji was hopping around on one leg, angrily shouting insults at Asuka

"Suzuhara-kun!" Hikari grabbed Touji by the ear and forced him to sit in his chair. "Such language! I'm the one who invited Asuka over because she's my best friend."

"Pussy-whipped." Kensuke whispered to Shinji, who had to stifle a laugh.

"What did you say?" Touji asked, standing up suddenly.

"SIT!" Hikari shouted, fire in her eyes and veins popping out on the side of her neck.

"Yes ma'am."

"Oh man, finally." Touji stretched. "We're finally here, I was afraid that the train would collapse within itself."

"I know what you mean, I was getting kind of worried when that goat broke though the roof of the train and landed in front of us." Kensuke agreed.

"How did that goat get on top of the train anyways?" Hikari asked.

"No idea, but hey, who cares? We're on the beach, its warm, sunny, and not a snowflake, or a goat in sight." Touji said happily.

"Wow, it's beautiful." Hikari exclaimed as she saw the beach.

Indeed, the weather was nice. It was sunny, with just enough clouds in the sky to block the heat. With the smell of salt in the air, and an obvious lack of the distinct smell of smoke and industrial waste, they truly were out of the city. Right in front of them was the vast ocean, blue as the sky above and at the same time, clear enough to see the ripples of sand below. From the edge of the concrete platform of the train station to the ocean, was a sea of white sand and random pine trees that that popped out of the sand and offered shade. Also facing the beach was their designated motel and a shopping center, which was bustling with tourists.

"Should we go look at our rooms at the motels?" Hikari asked, placing her bags on what was now sand as people walked passed them.

"Bah," Touji looked at Hikari with mock disgust. "Look for rooms? Now? With this weather?" Touji grabbed his bags, took off his shoes, and jacket. 'It's time to HIT DA BEACH!" and with that, Touji dashed full speed toward the beach almost hitting several people in the process.

Rolling her eyes, Hikari and the rest of the gang grabbed their bags and walked towards Touji, who was now rolling around happily in the warm sand.

"Honestly, you're embarrassing." Hikari placed her bags on the sand and opened a beach umbrella. 'Lot of people." Hikari commented as she looked around the beach.

The beach was alive. From people surfing, to people throwing Frisbees, it seemed to them that there were more people on this one beach than all of Tokyo-3. Setting up the beach umbrella next to a bunch of beach chairs, in which she paid 1000 Yen to use for the day; she pulled her bathing suit from her backpack.

'Well, betting find a place to change.' She thought to herself. Noticing a nearby changing area, Hikari was about to leave, but then she noticed Rei sitting alone and quiet under the beach umbrella. Noticing that Asuka, who had changed already, was flirting with a beach dude, Hikari decided that it would be ok to bring Rei along.

"Aren't you going to go change?" Hikari asked Rei.

"… What for?" Rei asked, without turning to face Hikari.

"So you can swim in the ocean of course. Don't you like swimming?" asked Hikari.­­­­­­­­

"…Hai, I do." Rei admitted, "But I didn't bring my bathing suit."

"That's why there's a shopping complex right over here, silly," Hikari said, pointing to the shopping center. "Let's go buy you a bikini."

"…"

"Oh, come on!"

"…Hai." Rei said, getting up, Rei followed Hikari, who was already leading Rei to the complex.

* * *

"Well, the girls are out of sight." Touji said, making sure that Hikari and Rei were out of sight. "Let us now commence our mission." 

"Operation Beach Love." Kensuke declared proudly, eyeglasses completely white from the suns reflection. "Our primary target: That beach babe sun-tanning herself." About 50 meters away from their location was a very attractive young girl who was tanning in the suns brutal rays.

"W-whatever." Shinji said, looking away, trying to appear calm and uninterested as he sipped his soda.

"And the person I nominate for this mission is, Shinji Ikari!" Touji said.

* * *

"Here we go," Hikari said, holding a bright blue bikini in front of Rei, "This one is perfect." 

'At least it's not red…' Rei thought to herself, silently. Looking around; it was the first time that she'd ever been to a beach. For most of her life, all she did was pilot Eva. In fact, that's all she ever did. School, for her, only started about a year ago, and it was never really an important part of her life.

"So tell me," Hikari asked, looking at Rei "What do you see in Shinji?"

"I do not understand the question Hikari-san," Rei replied, genuinely confused. "How can I see what's inside Shinji?"

'Gad.' Hikari thought to herself. "No, I mean, why do you like him?" she elaborated.

"…Oh…" was all Rei could muster after it dawned on her what Hikari was asking.

"Awww, c'mon you can tell me." said Hikari, eyes twinkling.

"I like him because…" Rei thought for a while, "…I do not know, Hikari-san," She looked at Hikari, "I do now know."

* * *

"OH COME ON! Stop being such a wuss!" Touji said angrily at Shinji, who was refusing to make a move on the sunbathing girl. "I mean look at her, that probably one of the hottest things that you'll ever see in your life. It's going to be a major waste if you don't make a move on her man!" Suddenly, Touji grabbed Shinji's shoulders, spun his around so he faced him, and spoke in a low voice "Ikari Shinji, pilot of Eva unit 02," 

"01." Kensuke corrected, who was fiddling with his camera.

"Whatever," Touji said, brushing off Kensuke's comment. "you only have one life to live, and of all people, yours is even more uncertain because of the fact that you pilot Evas. When you see an opportunity in life you must grab it by the horns, and wrestle it down until submission." Touji smiled and sunlight glinted off his, just-for-this-moment-insanely-bright-white-teeth, "I'm doing this for you, man." Touji squeezed Shinji's shoulder, "I want you to be happy." Touji finished with a tear in his eye.

Shinji was confused and slightly taken aback by what Touji had just said. "Touji, I-"

"Now go out there and LIVE!" Touji shouted, picked up Shinji and literally threw Shinji towards the sunbathing girl. And without missing a beat, he turned to Kensuke and said, "1000 Yen says she slaps him."

Stumbling forward, Shinji fought to regain his balance, unfortunately thrusting ones foot forward in dry sand does not work as well as on a solid surface. Losing his balance as his foot sunk into the sand, Shinji flew forward, landing directly in front of the girl. Except for his hand, which in its plight to regain balance, was thrust directly in front of him and landed perfectly on her breast.

"ACK!" Shinji quickly retracted the offending extremity and tried to apologize, "G-g-g-g-g-g-g-gomen-n-n-n-n-n-nasai!" Shinji managed to stutter out.

Sitting up, she looked at Shinji her face void of emotion.

'Oh man, I'm going to get it now.' Shinji thought to himself. 'But she really is beautiful. And that bikini is very small… so small…' Realizing where his eyes were looking at, Shinji hastily looked back down to the ground.

Looking at Shinji, she remained stoic, her face unemotional. Until she looked down, at his swimming trunks. Shinji followed the path of her eyes and saw, to his absolute horror, that a tent has been formed in his swim trunks.

Shrieking like a little wuss, Shinji retracted his legs and hugged his knees in an effort to hide the tent in his trunks. However, he lost his balance and thus tipped over and landed on his side. So there was Shinji, blushing bright red, a tent in his shorts, and lying on his side while curled up in a ball, hugging his knees. And all the time he was next to the extremely cute beach girl. Not exactly what you would call smooth.

Not wanting to do anything else wrong, Shinji remained in that position for several excruciating seconds. Then suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Shinji looked over to the side. The cute beach girl was squatting next to him and staring at him intently.

"O-ohayo." Shinji said weakly. To his great surprise, she smiled. And to his great disappointment, she punched him in the face.

Hard.

"You owe me a thou." Touji whispered to Kensuke as they shuffled away from the now rather scary looking beach girl.

Rubbing his nose, Shinji whimpered as the beach girl loomed over him once again. Suddenly she raised her hand. Instinctively Shinji closed his eyes, covered his face with his arms, and curled up into another ball. Sort of like an armadillo, except skinny and funny looking. However, the girl did not hit Shinji again. Instead she waved to him.

"Ohayo." She said.

Sensing that he was not in mortal danger Shinji slowly uncurled and looked at the girl who was squatting in front of him. "Ohayo." She said again, smiling cheerfully, waving her hand.

She's not mad? Shinji wondered to himself, noting how strange it was for a girl to appear so happy after some stranger just groped her breast.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not mad." She said, sensing Shinji's confusion. "You don't look like the kind of person who would intentionally do something perverted anyways. My name is Miyuki, what's yours?"

"Ikari, Ikari Shinji…"

"You're actually kind of cute." Miyuki smirked, offering her hand to help Shinji stand.

Unsure of what to say, because he just groped a girl who was very attractive and wearing a small bikini, got punched, and was now being complimented on his looks, Shinji remained absolutely silent.

"Ikari!"

Turning around, Shinji saw a giddy looking Hikari and Rei walking towards him and Miyuki.

"Ikari, I just bought a swimsuit for Rei and… oh, hi." Hikari pranced around Shinji and showed him the blue swim suit she had bought for Rei. Suddenly noticing Miyuki, she awkwardly greeted her.

"Ohayo." Miyuki said happily, waving at Hikari.

"Friend of yours, Shinji?" Rei asked suddenly, surprising everyone except Miyuki. It was odd for Rei to speak, let alone talking in front of a total stranger.

"Yup!" Miyuki declared proudly, flashing a smile at Rei. "We're good friends!"

"I see…" Rei walked between Miyuki and Shinji, grabbed his hand and bowed towards Miyuki. "I am terribly sorry, but we have to go take a look at our motel room, since we will be staying in it tonight. Sayonara." And with that Rei dragged Shinji away from Miyuki.

"Actually, I have to go anyways. But tell you what, since you touched my boob, I'll forgive you, if the next time we meet you buy me a drink." Winking, Miyuki ran off.

'Uh-oh' Hikari winced to herself as Shinji stuttered apologies to Rei, who looked rather 'displeased' with what she just heard.

* * *

Authors notes: Pre Reader desired! My email is avian304 gmail .com 

please correct me if i have any mistakes.


	9. Eva9

**Life Goes On**

"But Ayanami, I told you it was an accident." Shinji pleaded with Rei, who, to the untrained eye, appeared stoic as usual. But Shinji had been living with Rei for several weeks, and he knew that she was displeased.

Ever since Rei heard that Shinji had accidentally groped another girl, Rei had been acting cold around him. Refusing to speak to him unless absolutely necessary, not paying attention to him, and frowning every time she looked at him. But, regardless, she would still follow him around.

"It was an accident!" Shinji insisted to Rei, who sat on the bed, silent. "I didn't mean to grab her b-breast." Shinji stuttered, his hand twitching a little as he remembered how wonderfully soft her breast was.

"…" Rei looked at his hand, and frowned.

"ACK!" Shinji quickly balled his hand into a fist to stop its offending twitching.

Standing up, Rei turned away and walked towards the bathroom. "I'm going to shower, Ikari." And with that, Rei entered the bathroom and closed the door.

Sighing loudly, Shinji sat on the bed. He didn't know how to make Ayanami understand that what happened at the beach was not his fault. He didn't grope that girl on purpose. At lease, he didn't think he did.

However, Shinji's thoughts were soon interrupted as two people barged into his room.

"It's time to PAR-TAY!" Touji and Kensuke cried out in unison as they entered into his room.

"Nani?" Shinji asked, startled.

Well, we just thought that, y'know, since we had so much spare time, we'd start a fire." Kensuke said.

"We're going to make a fire on the beach!" Touji said. "At that isolated pine tree we saw, remember?"

Thinking back, Shinji recalled a single pine tree that stood on a small peninsula of land that stuck out of the beach. Thinking back more, he remembered that although the peninsula would be an ideal spot for a fire, it was rather far away from the motel. Thinking back even more, Shinji remembered that although it was a peninsula on a beach, there was a small jungle on its single side of land, making at hard to reach without braving a mini-jungle. Thinking back even more, he distinctly remembered hearing a rumor that there was a tribe of eunuch vas deferens eating cannibals that lived in that tiny jungle.

Dismissing his last thought Shinji checked his watch. "Now?" Shinji asked, it was 9:14 in the evening.

"Of course now, this is the perfect time!" Touji said. "Who wants a fire at noon?"

"Come on, it'll be fun." Kensuke reached into his back pack, "I brought marshmallows!"

"Yeah, whatever, Kensuke." Touji shoved Kensuke aside. "I brought what really matters!" opening his back pack, he pulled out a bottle of whiskey, tequila, vodka, and three packs of Red Bull. "See this Red Bull?" Touji lifted the package to show it to Shinji. "This Red Bull is from Thailand man, where it all began. Not that wimpy soda things that those white people drink." The Red Bulls were smaller, about a third the size of the westernized ones. Instead of a can, it was a small brown bottle with the Red Bull insignia wrapped around it.

If either Shinji or Touji or the rest of the people in the group could read Thai, they would've noticed the warning not to drink more than a single bottle at a time because of possible heart complications from the huge amounts of caffeine and sugar.

Grabbing the package from Shinji's hands, Touji stuffed it into his bag. "Tut-tut-tut, patience my dear Shinji. There will be more than enough at the fire."

"It's ok, I don't drink anyways." Shinji stated. "Go ahead and drink without me."

"We'll see about that." Touji muttered, a devilish smile creeping across his face.

"Be there!" And with that, Kensuke and Touji left Shinji's room.

Sighing, Shinji collapsed on the bed.

* * *

Rei and Shinji carefully walked along the side of the beach, it was dark, and the only source of light was a small crescent moon. The beach was deserted, and the only sound that could be heard was the waves crashing endlessly against the shore. 

It was a rather long walk from the motel to the bonfire. And without the sunlight, when Shinji and Rei finally reached the small patch of jungle that separated the peninsula from the mainland, it was difficult to trudge through without tripping over the rough terrain.

"Careful Ayanami." Shinji cautioned as he stepped over a rather large pile of rocks and roots. Holding out his hand, he helped Rei cross. After Rei had stepped over the pile of rocks, Shinji quickly released her hand. Still feeling shameful about what happened this afternoon, Shinji walked ahead of Rei in order to hide his embarrassment.

Rei silently watched Shinji walk ahead of her. She was confused at what to say, and was further confused by Shinji doing what appears to be avoiding her. She had acted without thinking, when Miyuki was with Shinji.

Rei suddenly tensed up, she was not sure why, but every time she thought of Miyuki she would get extremely edgy. She was not sure what Shinji was doing with Miyuki, but she did know one thing: she did not want Shinji to be near Miyuki, or any other attractive girl for that matter.

She knew that seeing Shinji with Miyuki had displeased her, but now, it seemed that she was pushing away Shinji.

Reaching out, she grabbed Shinji's arm.

"Huh?" Shinji asked.

Rei ignored Shinji's grunt for an explanation and tightly held onto his arm.

"Ayanami, I–" Shinji began.

"Shinji-kun…" Rei interrupted.

"H-hai, Ayanami?"

Rei reached out and pressed her finger against Shinji's lip, silencing him.

"No more talking." Rei whispered, squeezing Shinji's arm.

Opening his mouth to say, "Hai Ayanami." Shinji thought otherwise and kept quiet.

The rest of the walk continued in silence, as Rei held on to Shinji.

Until they tripped on a rock.

Then they got up, and continued their trip in silence.

* * *

Shinji! You're late!" Touji bellowed loudly at Shinji and Rei, who had just arrived. "We had to start without you!" Touji was obviously drunk, holding a bottle of whiskey on one hand, and a Brittney Spears CD in the other. 

"Start without you?" Hikari asked. Outraged, she grabbed the offending item from Touji's hand that was known to cause cancer, cause people to lose control, and was the subject of international protests and resentment, and threw it in the trash. "You were the one who started drinking even before we set up the fire!"

"Oh yeah…" Touji scratched his head, confused. "Oh well, come on Shinji, this booze isn't going to drink itself y'know." Placing his whiskey on the floor, Touji grabbed Shinji and pushed him near the fire, grabbing a bottle of vodka and placing it next to him.

Rei hastily sat next to Shinji.

Looking around he noticed that everyone was here, and by the somewhat large amount of empty beer cans and bottles littered around the fire, it was safe to assume that they had been drinking for quite some time now.

Hikari was shouting at Touji, who obviously was not paying attention and was trying to find a way to fit a large crab into a bottle of tequila to see whether or not crabs could get drunk.

Kensuke was reading a magazine about historic military battles, and Asuka, well, Asuka was drinking. A lot.

"Awwww, can't stay apart from each other for a second can you?" Asuka sneered at the two of them, when Rei started to lean on Shinji.

Shinji blushed bright red. "N-no, it's–"

"That's right…" Rei interrupted, glaring at Asuka, causing everyone in the circle stop what they were doing and stare at her.

Asuka suddenly became silent as she glared back at Rei. For a moment Shinji thought that Asuka was going to assault her. But luckily, Touji managed to break the mood by quickly shoving the bottle of vodka into Shinji's mouth.

"OI! DRINK UP!" Touji shouted as he force fed Shinji, who was struggling unsuccessfully, to push Touji away. "CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG!" Touji cheered as Shinji was forced to drink the contents of the bottle.

After Touji was finally pulled away from Shinji, (It had taken everyone in the group to pull him off.) Shinji had drunk about half of the bottle.

"WOO! That's how you do it, Shinji!" Touji shouted, before taking another swing from his bottle. Shinji, however, was not listening to Touji, although he had drunk alcohol before, he had never in his entire life, chugged whiskey like that. And it burned.

Coughing, Shinji didn't notice Hikari chasing Touji around the fire. He had already taken off his shirt and was doing the chicken dance.

"Are you okay, Shinji-kun?" Rei asked, worry in her eyes, as Shinji coughed violently.

"I'll be fine, Ayanami." Shinji said, clutching his shirt, in an attempt to control the burning in his chest.

"ACK"

Shinji and Rei turned just in time to see Hikari hit Touji over the head with some driftwood. "That's for acting like a Neanderthal!" Hikari shouted.

Touji rubbed his head, getting hit had temporarily cleared his senses. "Aw, common, its not like that teeny bit of alcohol is gonna do anything to him anyways."

* * *

"You call this a fire?" Shinji shouted at the embers of the dying fire. Picking up a bottle of Kerosene, he poured it into the fire. "Now THAT'S a FIRE!" He shouted as the fire exploded into a raging inferno. Tearing off his shirt, he started laughing hysterically and doing cartwheels and flips around the fire place as everyone tried to put it out.

* * *

Too drunk to walk, let alone climb up a flight of stairs, Shinji was assisted by Touji and Kensuke. 

"How was I supposed to know that Shinji couldn't take a little alcohol?" Touji said in his defense, as Hikari berated him.

"A little? A little!" Hikari nearly shrieked, hardly believing what Touji had just said, "You shoved the bottle in his mouth!"

"Bah, I wuz just helpin' him become a man!" He looked at Shinji, who was currently supported on both sides by Kensuke and Touji, Hikari was next to Touji and Rei and Asuka were walking behind them, silent. "I mean, what kinda guy drinks a teeny bit of vodka and totally loses control like that?"

"You're one to speak, you totally lost it tonight." Hikari muttered, remembering that Touji had taken off his shirt right after he force fed Shinji vodka. Well, actually, vodka and Thai Red Bull, but Hikari didn't know that.

"What? I neva' lost control." Touji insisted while making a mental note to himself not to mix vodka with 12 bottles of Red Bull.

"Pervert!" Hikari smashed Touji over the head with her backpack.

"Ow!" Touji shouted in pain, as Hikari hit him over the head. "What was that for?"

"If you never lost control, then that means that you purposely took off your shirt."

"Oh, yeah…" Touji muttered, looking sheepishly at Hikari, knowing that he'd been busted.

"And not only that, you also influenced Shinji to do the same thing!"

"I know, ain't it grand?" Touji swelled with pride as he dragged Shinji up the stairs.

"You're hopeless." Hikari said, exasperated.

"It was quiet pleasant." Rei commented, thinking about the shirtless Shinji, then blushed, earning her more stares from the gang.

"Er–right, anyways, we're there." Kensuke said, getting their attention.

"Room 7175…" Kensuke checked the room number to make sure it was the right room. The last time they barged into the wrong room, they stumbled upon an 80 year old couple going at it. Needless to say, Touji and Kensuke were now much more careful when entering rooms. "Yup, this is the right room." Kensuke said, after checking the room number for the umpteenth time before he was satisfied.

Opening the door, they dragged Shinji into the room and heaved him onto the bed. Landing gracefully in a belly flop, Shinji woke up a split second, looked around, and fell asleep again. Touji pushed him over so he was on one side of the bed.

"Ok, whatever you do," Touji turned to Rei, "They keep a pack of chocolate cond–"

As usual, Touji was smacked over the head by Hikari.

"Alright, alright, geez… calm down, I was only kiddin'." Touji rubbed his head.

"Arigato-Gozaimasu. Suzuhara-san. I will take that into consideration." Rei said, bowing to Touji.

Complete and utter silence.

Even Touji was speechless.

Now that, my friend, was quite an accomplishment.

"Yea… I think I'm gonna go to mah room now." Touji said, ushering Kensuke out with a big grin on his face, like he'd just done a great favor for someone.

"Yea, it's getting late," Kensuke said, following Touji.

"Come on, Asuka, let's go to our room." Hikari grabbed the Asuka, who had a look of disbelief frozen on her face. "Goodnight, Rei." Hikari said, closing the door.

And with that, Rei was alone with Shinji.

Looking at Shinji, who was sprawled on the bed, sleeping happily, Rei decided to change to her pajamas so she too could go to sleep. Unbuttoning her shirt, Rei slipped out of her clothes. Opening a drawer to get her pajamas, the pack on condoms fell onto the floor. Curious, she picked it up and examined the pack of condoms.

What was so special about this? Rei examined the condom. It looked ordinary, boring even. She understood that during sexual intercourse, it was common place for people to use condoms to prevent pregnancy and to avoid sexually transmitted diseases. But what she didn't understand was why it came in flavors like chocolate; Rei looked at another condom, or strawberry.

And why was it named after an ancient civilization that once existed in Turkey?

In her attempt to further understand the condom, she proceeded to remove a single condom from the package. However, when she removed the chocolate flavored condom, she accidentally tore it open, causing the exposed condom to fall onto the floor.

Picking up the condom, she examined it, wondering why it was chocolate flavored. If she recalled correctly, the female genitalia did not have taste buds, and would be unable to detect the chocolate flavor. Confused, she made a mental note to ask Shinji tomorrow morning why condoms came in flavors like chocolate.

Throwing the condom and the package into a nearby garbage pail, she slipped on her pajamas, got into bed, and snuggled up to the still sleeping Shinji.

* * *

Far away, in NERV headquarters, Gendo Ikari switched of a monitor in his office. 

"Perhaps they are getting too close?" Fuyutsuki asked, surprised at how close the pilots of Units 00 and 01 have gotten.

"No, Sensei." Gendo leaned back into his chair. "Everything is going perfectly to plan."

"If you say so." Leaning forward, Fuyutsuki contemplated his next move.

"You're getting slow Sensei, you used to be quicker than this." Gendo remarked, smirking as he watched Fuyutsuki ponder.

"I've merely learned not to take any risks." Fuyutsuki said as he made his move.

"Sometimes," Gendo moved his piece and took Fuyutsuki's, "a risk is the only way to get things done."

* * *

Authors Notes: Not much I guess, except that Red Bull did originate from Thailand. And yes, its smaller, cheaper, tastes better, and packs a way bigger punch. Many thanks to my pre-reader Kyadytim. The Omakes are by him. 

I'm adding some omake, because there were a few scenes just begging for them.

Omake 1:

Until they tripped on a rock.

Rei smashed her head open on it, and Shinji, distraught at her death, threw himself into the ocean. Unable to swim, he drowned.

The end.

Omake 2:

Until they tripped on a rock.

Shinji fell forward, dragging Rei down with him. He struggled out from beneath her, but the Rei shifted herself on top of him again.

"Ayanami, what are you doing?"

"It should be obvious, Ikari."

Shortly thereafter, Shinji changed his mind about the importance of getting to the bonfire.


	10. Eva 10

Authors Notes: Did you know it is impossible for an elephant to jump?

Authors Notes: For some reason I can't make a seperation in my document, thus im using dashes instead.

**Life Goes On**

'Oh man, my head…' Shinji groaned, rubbing his head as he leaned forward. His world was still spinning as he looked around. His throat dry and his head light, he looked at the light that penetrated the cracks in the window blinds, lost in time, too lazy to move. Too tired to sit up, he remained stationary on the bed. Turning his head he looked at the small particles of dust that swirled around lazily the morning light.

It was cold. Looking around, he noticed that the air conditioner was on full blast, and the thin blanket that he had was not enough to keep out the cold. Finally deciding that it was time to get up, Shinji rolled over to the left so he could push himself up with both of his hands. However, he did not know that Rei slept on the other side of the bed and when he rolled over, he rolled right into her.

"ACK!" Still slightly out of it, Shinji was unable to stop himself as he tumbled towards Rei. Instinctively, like the real man that he was, he closed his eyes. When he finally opened it again, he realized that he was in a very awkward situation. The first thing that he noticed was that his face was very close to Rei's. In fact, it was so close that if he wanted to, he could have counted each and every one of her eyelashes, not that he was going to, considering his right arm was draped over Rei's shoulder and he had his pelvis pressing into her.

Suddenly realizing what a horrible situation that he was in, he instantly used a survival tactic that he had recently watched on Animal Planet; he played dead. However, not surprisingly enough, playing dead doesn't exactly work when you're bright red and have a heart beat that could be heard clear across the room. Rei woke up. Her eyes fluttering open, she stared lazily into Shinji's wide eyes.

"A-Ayanami…I–"

"…I'm cold, Shinji-kun."

Ignoring Shinjis nervous stuttering, Rei snuggled up closer to him for warmth, resting her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around him.

Although stunned at first, Shinji relaxed as he felt the warmth from Reis body. Looking into her eyes, he noticed that she was already asleep again. No longer feeling cold, Shinji too, closed his eyes and went to sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"When are we going to wake them up?" The fiery redhead finally yelled, throwing the news paper onto the floor in frustration.

Picking up the newspaper, Touji sighed, "I'm telling' ya, Shinji is probably still sleeping." Leaning back onto his chair he read the headlines: 'Eunuch vas defrens cannibals strike again!' Unaware to what a vas defrens is, Touji quickly changed pages to look at the comics.

"I never said I was done with that!" Asuka snapped, quickly taking the newspaper back from Touji.

Sighing, Touji merely shook his head. Standing up, he decided to get more food. As Touji left, Hikari quickly sat next to Asuka, who had taken a seat and was reading the newspaper angrily.

"Asuka," Hikari said, touching her on the shoulder to calm her down, "The reason Touji won't let you into Rei and Shinji's room is because they probably really are still sleeping." Giving Asuka a smile Hikari patted her on the back. "And I'm sure that Shinji won't do anything perverted to Rei."

Giving a loud grunt, Asuka went back to reading the newspaper.

"So you think Shinji and Rei did it?" Kensuke asked Touji cheerfully as he walked toward the table.

"I'm sure they did." Touji exclaimed, solemn as he placed scrambled eggs on the checkered table. "Drunk and on the same bed as his girlfriend, I'd be surprised if they didn't do it." Sitting down, Touji picked up a fork and took a bite of his scrambled eggs. "You know," Touji said between mouthfuls, "I'm just surprised that Shinji actually lost it before me." Placing down his fork, Touji turned to face Kensuke. "Y'know, I still can't believe that Shin—". Touji was cut short by a low growl that shook the room. Looking down as his plate, which was shaking and spilling scrambled eggs everywhere, Touji looked at the source of the commotion, and what he saw was a very, very angry redhead.

"Uh-oh…" Hikari whispered, quickly getting up and inching away from Asuka, who was gripping the side of the table so hard that it started to crack.

"How does a game of monopoly sound right now?" Kensuke asked Touji casually, looking at Asuka whose nails were digging into the table, causing splinters to burst out, striking the wall nearby and lodging themselves permanently in it. Touji lost his appetite.

"Sounds good." Touji said, quickly walking out of the room—with Kensuke following behind him.

What happened next was a series of unfortunate events to the owner of the hotel. Although the culprit was never caught, the repairs never paid for, the owner of the hotel did make money later on in life when he transformed his hotel into a tourist attraction—as the only hotel in the world that had the dining room leveled using only orange juice and dirty scrambled eggs. However, he was later arrested in life for tax evasion and impersonating Tom Jones.

Gasping for breath, Hikari let go of Asukas arm. Having pulled Asuka out of the dining room, Hikari was very tired. Sitting down on a nearby bench, she took out a napkin and wiped the sweat that flowed down her face.

Looking very unhappy, Asuka sat down next to Hikari. "I don't want to talk about it." Asuka grumbled.

Sighing, Hikari pulled out another napkin and wiped Asukas drenched face. "I'm sure nothing happened." Hikari said in an attempt to cheer up Asuka.

"Bah, it wasn't about that," Asuka said, straightening herself, "It's just that I noticed that Germany lost to Italy in the World Cup. Honestly, after that horrible game in 2006 where they lost by two goals in the last two minutes of the game you'd think that they'd learn to play properly." Raising her hands in expiration, she leaned back into the bench. "I guess we'll have to wait until the next World Cup."

Not believing a word that Asuka said, Hikari smiled and agreed with Asuka, commenting that the next World Cup would be hard for Germany, considering Ghanas surprising dominance in the past tournaments.

Shrugging, Asuka didn't reply to Hikari, but simply stared at a group of people who were feeding pigeons.

Deciding to take Asukas mind off things, Hikari switched the topic of conversation. "Asuka," Hikari looked down at the floor, "do you think that Touji and I…"

"Huh?" Asuka snapped to attention as soon as Hikari trailed off, "what about the dumbkoff and you?"

"Well… ah…" Hikari hesitated.

"Spit it!"

"Well, what I'm trying to say is…"

"Well?" Asuka demanded impatiently.

"Since there is a festival tonight…"

"Hurry up!"

"Can you please help me find something nice to wear?" Hikari pleaded, blushing.

"You actually want to look nice for that idiot?" Asuka snarled.

Blushing, Hikari looked down onto the floor and didn't respond.

"I guess it can't be helped." Sighing, Asuka sat up suddenly and spun around to face Hikari. "Fine, lets find you something nice to wear for the dumbass."

Glad to have taken Asukas mind off her problems, Hikari smiled and followed Asuka

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"No, I'm tellin' ya, if ya pass go when you're low on cash AND have 2 hotels ya can borrow money from the bank." Touji insisted as he picked up some money from the "bank".

"That's what you said when you passed go last time, but you had one hotel." Kensuke said, frowning. Kensuke had every property on the board, except for two train tracks, which—according to Touji—could house two hotels. Touji, on the other had, had two train tracks with a hotel on each one of them—and Touji was winning. "I still think that train tracks can't hold hotels." Kensuke read the rules in the small booklet, "It says that if you own multiple train tracks the rest increases, but nothing about hotels on the train tracks."

"Listen to logic, Kensuke!" Touji sighed, "If there are passengers coming out at the train station, it's only natural that these passengers are going to look for the closest available hotels so they can rest."

Rolling his eyes, Kensuke put down the boot and rolled his dice—he knew that arguing with Touji was pointless, because eventually, if he didn't get his way, he would stop playing. But before Kensuke was able to roll his dice he was disrupted by a large crashing sound behind him. Dropping the dice, he turned to see Asuka standing at the doorway. Looking down, he saw that Asuka was standing on top of the smoldering remains of the door.

"Errrr…." Kensuke said dumbly.

Ignoring Kensuke's babble, Asuka marched toward the pair, kicking the monopoly game out of the way.

"HEY!" Touji bolted up, but was soon humbled by the blood thirsty look that Asuka gave him.

"It's time to wake up the pair." Asuka stated coldly.

"But—" Touji started to protest but was instantly smacked on the side of the head by Kensuke. "What was that for?" Touji roared, looking at Kensuke furiously as he rubbed his sore head. Instead of responding, Kensuke nervously pointed at Asuka. Turning around to see what Kensuke was pointing at, what Touji witnessed terrified him. Asuka looked normal, in fact she looked rather calm, but in her eyes, Touji saw something terrifying. Although he couldn't exactly describe what he saw in her eyes, the best connection that he was able to make was death, anger, plague and old people fart.

"It's time to wake up the pair." Asuka repeated, smiling.

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Touji and Kensuke both said in unison, clicking their heels together, which actually was quite a feat considering they were both wearing sneakers.

Turning around Asuka calmly walked out the door with the pair following her. Stopping suddenly as they reached the hallway Asuka stood very still.

"There are no objections, I hope?" She asked cheerfully.

"N-no ma'am!" Touji and Kensuke answered instantly, standing straight, pulling their shoulders back and sucking in their gut.

"Good." And with that Asuka marched to Shinji and Reis room with Touji and Kensuke following obediently behind.

Upon reaching the door Asuka stood silently in front of it, hands on her hips. Puzzled, Kensuke and Touji exchanged nervous glances at each other.

Then suddenly, to the horror to Touji and Kensuke, Asuka lifted her leg—and with a loud crash—kicked down the door of the room.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Shinji silently lay next to Rei, calm and content. He looked at her soft and delicate features and she lay facing him less than a few inches away. Noticing that Rei was still slighting shivering, Shinji reached down and pulled the blanket to cover both him and Rei—almost instantly she stopped shivering and relaxed. Smiling to himself, Shinji inched his head until his forehead was almost touching Reis. Feeling the warmth radiate from Reis body, Shinji felt himself slowly drifting back to sleep. Thinking back, Shinji was unable to remember the last time he was so happy, so content with life. Reaching out he brushed a bit of hair back from Reis head so he could see her face clearly. She smells nice, Shinji thought to himself as he slowly closed his eyes.

For the first time is his short yet brutal life, Shinji was finally at Peace.

At least until he heard a loud crashing noise that sounded oddly like the door of his hotel room being broken down by an angry redhead. Sitting up, he saw a cold looking Asuka staring at him. Looking at her eyes, he noticed that she glanced at Rei, who had also wakened up and was staring at Asuka. Looking behind Asuka he noticed Touji and Kensuke looking at him happily, giving him thumbs up for some reason.

Finally realizing what an awkward position he was in—still entangled onto Rei, he quickly stood up to explain the situation. Asuka, however, wasn't listening.

"Y-you and w-wonder girl actually… actually" suddenly at a loss for words at the scene in front of her, Asuka raised a shaking finger toward the pair. "You a-actually… you actually…"

"Congratulations on becoming a MAN Shinji!" Touji bellowed in a deep, dramatic voice. Running past Asuka, he dropped to his knees and slid to a stop in front of Shinji. "Behold!" Touji grabbed Shinjis hand and stood up, lifting Shinjis hand in the air "The once child Shinji, is now a MAN!" Out of no where, Kensuke whipped out his camera. Running past Asuka he started taking pictures.

"Sensational! Amazing!" Kensuke said as he took the pictures. "Incredible, my good man, shake me by the hand!" lunging forward, he grabbed Shinjis hand and shook it forcefully. "To think that you'd be the first one to reach manhood…" Kensuke sobbed, tears running down his face "It's unthinkable." Taking out a napkin, he blew his nose and accidentally threw the used napkin onto Asukas new shoes. Realizing what he had just done, Kensuke slowly turned around to face the redhead. However, Asuka was not looking at Kensuke, nor was she looking at Touji; she was staring at Shinji. And then suddenly, the gates of hell broke loose, and the savage demon that was kept within broke free.

"Shinji! YOU PERVERT!" Asuka shrieked. Running past Kensuke, Asuka lunged forward to grab Shinji but was instantly stopped by Touji.

"Aww come on, we were just kiddi—" Touji explained but stopped suddenly when Asuka landed a ferocious punch to Toujis left jaw. Seeing stars explode in front of him, he slumped backwards only to be caught by a worried Shinji.

"Touji!" Shinji yelled, but it was pointless, because in Toujis mind he was at a beach in Hawaii with a group of extremely attractive women.

"You!" Asuka snarled, pointing at a terrified Shinji, who dropped Touji. Ignoring the dull thud of Toujis limp body hitting the floor, Asuka stepped over him to get to Shinji. Grabbing his collar she yanked him away from Rei, however, in the process Asukas leg hit the side of a trash can, causing Asuka to fall onto the floor.

The trash can tipped over, spilling its contents onto the floor. Except for one item. As if fighting the mighty pull of gravity it flew forward, flying out of the trashcan. Spinning marvelously in the air, it did a triple summersault followed by a quadruple spinning side twirl before landing graciously on Asukas nose. And as if it was taking a little bow, it bent over and stuck its head—to Asukas horror—into her gaping mouth. On the other side of the world, judges for a gymnastic competition simultaneously sneezed, after giving the contestant a perfect score.

The world froze. Nobody moved. The wind stopped blowing, the birds stopped chirping, the chatter from the tourists, the sound of waves crashing onto the shore was instantaneously silenced. For a full minute Asuka stood there, motionless with the head of the condom in her mouth and everybody was silent, too afraid to make a noise. Then slowly Asuka lifted her trembling hand and slowly picked the condom out of her mouth. Eyes wide, she stared at the condom—which was chocolate flavored—and turned her head to look at Shinji who was looking at the condom in confusion.

"Chocolate?" Asuka mumbled, pressing her fingers against her lips.

And then, the dam burst.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Touji had awoken from his dream just in time to see the event and was laughing hysterically, much to the horror of Kensuke and Shinji. "Not only did Shinji bone Ayanami, but he managed to get Asuka to eat his chocolate elixir of love!" laughing so hard, Touji lost his balance and fell to the ground, clutching his stomach painfully as he fought for each gasp for air.

Kensuke tried to cover Toujis mouth but it was too late, the damage had been done. Fuming, Asuka shrieked and threw the condom onto the floor. However, in her fury Asuka didn't notice that she had thrown the condom directly in front of her war path to Shinji. Stepping on the condom, it squished underneath her foot in chocolaty wonderfulness and caused her to slip. Falling backwards Asukas legs swung upward and she slammed against the floor.

Everyone was silent. Even Rei, but then again Rei is always silent, so it doesn't really count.

"Damn, shes out cold." Touji muttered, after the initial shock passed. Reaching down, he patted Asukas cheek lightly to make sure that she was asleep. When he was convinced that Asuka was truly knocked out, he looked at Shinji. "Now what?" Touji asked him.

"W-what are you asking me for?" Shinji cried, "You're the one who edged her on!" Shinji pointed an accusing finger at Touji.

"Well, if you and Ayanami hadn't gotten it on," Touji shrugged his shoulders "then the demon wouldn't have any reason to get mad in the first place."

"Nothing happened!" Shinji shouted, face red.

"Then how come you and Ayanami were together in bed all cuddly, cuddly?"

"W-well, that's because…"

"Yea, they did it." Kensuke interrupted.

"No we didn't!"

"Anyways," Touji started, looking at his watch "lets just leave the demon in this room, the market is about to open and I heard that they sell really cool stuff there."

"But we can't just leave her here!" protested Shinji.

"You want to be here when she wakes up?" Touji asked, looking at Shinji.

"Err…"

"Come on; help me lift her onto the bed." Grabbing Asukas arms, Shinji grabbed her legs and placed her on the bed.

"There, now lets get tha hell outta here before she wakes up."

Agreeing, Shinji, Touji, Rei and Kensuke quickly walked out the room.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Creative Criticism is much appreciated.

Thanks to Kyadytim, my Pre Reader.


	11. Eva 11

Authors Notes: Yes yes, I know its been way too long, but the thing is that I got addicted to world of warcraft for the longest time, damn that game. Anyhow now that I'm bored of world of warcraft and successfully managed to cancel my account I can now continue my fanfic (yay) I swear, World of Warcraft nearly destroyed me. That and I was rereading Trial By Tenderness, which in case you people didn't know is the greatest AMG! Fan fic in the history of AMG! Fanfics. Also It's 3 times the length of the LOTR's trilogy. So it's a damn good read. In case anyone is interested I have in my possession chapters 1-124 on my computer. If you want it feel free to email me.

**Life Goes On: I Hear Violins**

"Dude, no."

"Yes."

"You can't do this."

"Yes I can."

"Think of the consequences."

"I don't give a shit about the consequences, I want to do it, and I don't care what happens."

"…"

"Look, I know you want to do this too."

"…"

"No one will ever know."

"Fine, but let's just be careful."

"Careful is my middle name." Smiling slyly, Kensuke slowly retrieved a mirror from his backpack, quickly glued it onto his shoe and stood up looking around to make sure that he wasn't spotted. "Ok, no one noticed us."

"I'm going to get in so much trouble…" Touji muttered under his breath. Pulling out a new Casio Watch Camera, the one with 14 Mega pixels and a 19x Optical Zoom, he fastened it to his wrist.

"Alright, Operation panty shot is about to begin." Kensuke announced quietly. Giving Touji a thumbs up, he casually strolled to a nearby group of school girls who were distracted by a puppy. Leaning in, he also pretended to be interested in the puppy; placing his foot right underneath one of the cuter girls, he pivoted his foot an exact 12.34 degrees, thus complementing the angle of the sun which was shining down on his foot at exactly 85.43 degrees. Touji, who was looking though the small screen on his watch, was exactly 31.443 feet away sitting on a stool that was 2.32 feet tall.

With the zoom on full he was able to take some quick pictures of the young school girls underwear via reflection from the mirror on Kensuke's shoe. Giving Kensuke the thumbs up sign, he stood up and walked away, quickly saving the file on his watch.

"See? That wasn't so bad." Kensuke told Touji once he caught up with him, patting him on the back for a job well done. "Now all we gotta do is sell them online, and we'll be rich."

"Y'know, I still don't think that that's the right thing to do…" Shinji said, looking at the pair.

"Aw come on, don't be lame." Touji said, seemingly no longer worried about getting caught now that the idea of money was swimming in his head. "This is business."

"But still, such an act–"

"Shinji-kun." Rei interrupted.

"Hai, Ayanami?"

"Let us go this way." Grabbing Shinjis arm, Rei suddenly pulled Shinji way from the pair and disappeared into the crowd of people.

"H-hai Ayanami."

"Just like a rag doll," Touji sighed as he watched Shinji being dragged away by Rei. "Oh well, Oh hey look!" Touji pointed to another group of school girls. "More money!"

* * *

"Ayanami, w-where are we going?"

Rei wasn't quite so sure herself, however she did know that she thoroughly enjoyed being one on one with Shinji as compared to being with him in a large group; so she made it her personal mission to have as much time as possible with him on a one on one basis. As she pulled Shinji through a group of people, they were suddenly interrupted by a loud voice.

"You two look like a nice, cute couple." A tall long haired man suddenly stepped in their way, blocking them from walking further. The man was wearing a long black coat that covered his entire body and arms. "Do you know what you need?" He asked the both of them.

When neither Rei nor Shinji answered he smiled. Lifting his arms suddenly, he opened his cloak dramatically. Sprawled across the inside of his cloak was a huge advertisement: The House of Death.

"The House of Death?" Shinji asked.

The man took a deep breath and spoke in a booming voice "Why yes the house of death, the newest, and most technologically advanced haunted house in the entire fair!"

Waving his hand, he motioned to a large castle that Shinji and Rei hadn't noticed earlier.

"Deep inside this cavern lies untold horrors, disgusting creatures, vile criminals, putrid jails, and much, much more!" reaching into his coat he pulled out a reel of tickets, "and for a mere five hundred Yen, you can experience it for yourself. Whaddya say?"

"Errrr I don't…"

"Let's do it, Shinji-kun." Rei said suddenly.

"There we go!" The man cheered. "You better listen to the lady young man." he said, winking at Shinji and nudging him in the ribs with his elbow.

"B-but… Ayanami…" Shinji protested. The castle suddenly looked very dark and very sinister all of a sudden; however, Rei merely had to look at Shinji and he was unable to resist.

"O-ok then, I'll have two tickets please." Shinji said, handing the man the money, ignoring the sounds of Touji and Kensuke in his head saying 'Wha-pish' while holding whips.

"A fine decision young man." Taking the money from Shinji's hand, the man tore off two tickets and handed it to Shinji and Rei. "Now just head on over to the castle and have fun." Stepping aside, he motioned toward the castle. "On you go young ones."

* * *

'I'm going to die.' Shinji thought to himself as he trudged through the haunted house. 'There's no denying it, I will not make it out of this house alive.'

The haunted house was somewhat scarier than Shinji had anticipated. At first he was doing alright, the hologram ghosts and scary sounds weren't THAT much of a problem. Not even the fact that it was a giant maze and that they've been lost for well over an hour in the dark scared him. But goddamn it, once that fucking spider fell off the ceiling, and crawled into Shinji's shirt to prove that it was TRUELY alive, That. Was. It.

Feeling something snap inside him, he hysterically tore off his shirt sending buttons flying and because of his shirt tearing hysteria, Shinji momentarily lost his balance. Stumbling backwards, Shinji backed into somebody, sending them crashing to the ground.

Realizing his folly, Shinji quickly rushed to help the person up. "Are you OK?" Shinji asked the stranger, concerned.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." The girl said weakly as she gripped his hand.

Shinji knew that voice. Startled, he accidently released his grip on the girls arm, causing her to fall into a pit of fake spider eggs.

"Miyuki?"

"Oh hey it's you." Miyuki said, looking at Shinji. "Y'know, I'd really like some help getting out of this pit of spider eggs…"

"Oh, o-of course." Stumbling forward, Shinji reached in and grabbed Miyukis outstretched hand. Balancing himself on the edge of the pit, he steadied himself, and with a mighty heave he pulled Miyuki out.

"Thanks a bunch honey." Miyuki said, winking at Shinji as she climbed out of the pit.

"So what are you doing here?" Shinji asked as Miyuki brushed the dust off herself.

"Looking at cute boys who don't wear shirts." Miyuki replied slyly, looking at Shinji's bare chest.

Turning an incredible shade of brilliant scarlet, Shinji quickly picked up his shirt from the floor and hastily buttoned it up the remaining buttons.

Pouting, Miyuki looked at Shinji sadly as he dressed "Aww… That wasn't necessary."

"Pardon me." Rei interrupted coldly, tapping Miyuki on the shoulder. "But what is your purpose here?"

Suddenly noticing Rei, Miyuki cocked an eyebrow. This blue haired girl that he was with, was it his girlfriend? Looking at Rei, who simply stared back at Miyuki, she slowly looked up and down Rei. "Too see the haunted house?" Miyuki answered uneasily, unsure if that was a satisfactory answer to Rei's question.

"Then, I believe meeting us was not part of your initial purpose for attending the haunted house." Grabbing Shinjis hand Rei turned to Miyuki and bowed. "Please forgive our intrusion."

However, as Rei was about to leave, Miyuki walked next to Shinji and grabbed his arm, "But of course sometimes meeting a friend is part of ones plans… come on, let's explore the haunted house together!" Miyuki said winking at Shinji and Rei, with a large grin on her face.

Shinji turned a shade of red so glorious that he was almost purple, but then later paled out as soon as he was the look on Reis face.

She was not happy.

* * *

"Oh my God, Shinji!" Miyuki shrieked as another generic ghost popped out from behind a wall. Quickly hiding behind Shinji, she pressed her breasts onto his back; which made Shinji a very happy man.

Rei on the other hand, who was walking next to Shinji, was not as amused.

"I'm so thankful that there's a cute guy like you to protect me from the ghosts, Shinji." Miyuki said cheerily as she hugged Shinji from behind.

She was pissed off.

Now it wasn't often that Rei would get pissed. In fact, this was one of the first times that she's ever gotten pissed. She's gotten angry before, unhappy, agitated, unpleasant…whatever. But this, this was the first time that she was thoroughly pissed the fuck off. As she, Shinji and Miyuki walked through the corridors of the haunted house, Rei noticed what seemed to be a slide that went down to the level below. It was on the right hand corner of the wall which luckily enough, was the same side Miyuki was on.

She had an Idea.

Quickly sliding behind Shinji, Rei nudged Miyuki's shoulder while simultaneously tripping her right foot, thus sending her careening down into the slide. It was all over before Shinji noticed what had happened. Quick, clean, and effective, Rei smiled silently to herself; all that NERV training didn't go to waste.

"Where'd Miyuki go?" Shinji wondered, noticing that she was no longer at his side.

"She informed me that she had misplaced one of her items and that she was going to conduct a search for that particular belonging." Rei stated. "She also informed us to proceed along and not to wait for her."

"Oh." Shinji said, shrugging, confused at how Miyuki managed to disappear so quickly.

"Let us continue." Grabbing Shinjis arm, Rei implemented a tactic that she had read from a noteworthy article on the magazine Cosmopolitan, she pulled him close to her, put her arms around his waist, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"A-Ayanami?"

"We're almost at the exit Shinji-kun." Rei said as they neared the exit tunnel. "I'm starting to get hungry, let's go eat."

"Oh, OK, there's a burger joint around the corner here, if I remember correctly. Do you want to eat there?" Shinji asked.

Rei thought about this for a moment, upon reading Cosmopolitan she had noticed that people who ate at the more expensive restaurants tended to be more serious and more committed in their relationship.

"I have an Idea."

* * *

"I-is this really necessary Ayanami?" Shinji asked nervously, looking at the grand chandelier above him. Dressed in a tux, he fidgeted in his seat as the waiter served him his meal.

This was the first time that Shinji had ever been to such a fancy restaurant. When Rei first presented to him the idea of eating as such a place, Shinji immediately opposed such a notion, preferring to eat at the new In N' Out burger joint that had recently opened in the fair. However Rei was so insistent that Shinji eventually resigned and agreed.

'According to Cosmopolitan it is.' Rei thought to herself. Wearing a blue dress that hugged her body, she ate her meal in relative silence as Shinji fidgeted around and played with his cufflinks.

Having to rent a tux due to the restaurants strict dress code, Shinji still wasn't prepared for the incredible grandeur that was this restaurant.

"Wine, Sir?" The waiter asked Shinji.

Surprised that the waiter actually asked him if he wanted wine, since he'd never been asked that particular question in his entire life because he was underage, he stalled.

And he stalled.

And then he stalled some more.

And then Ayanami kicked his leg.

Jerking slightly, he said "Yes, please."

* * *

He was drunk, again. He knew that he should've stopped after the 10 glass, but after the 6th he was unable to stop. The pain was back.

He suddenly remembered why he promised himself that he was never going to get drunk again. Whenever he drank, all the memories would suddenly flood back, like a wave of water that would suddenly envelop his being. The loneliness, watching his mother being consumed by the living, pulsating machine that she was trying to command, sitting in a sandpit for 5 hours after the sun had set, alone. It suffocated him, whatever he did it was always there, in the back of his head, relentless, always reminding him of his past and what he missed out on and what could have been.

All the 'What if's.'

All the 'Why's.'

He couldn't take it. He didn't know what he was doing anymore, he had to leave, he needed to get up and take a walk to clear his head.

Telling Rei that he had to go to the bathroom, he walked out of the ballroom and into the hallway outside. However, in his drunken stupor he collided with somebody, sending both of them to the floor.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry." Shinji said drunkenly. Trying to get up to his feet, he slipped forward and pushed the girl down so he was lying on top of her.

"Oh my Shinji, I didn't know you felt that way." The girl giggled as Shinji struggled to get up to his feet.

"No, it was an accident––" However Shinji's words were suddenly cut off as the girl grabbed his face with both hands.

'So warm.' Shinji thought to himself as she pulled his face closer to hers.

As Shinji's head swarmed, the girl spoke silently into his ear, her hot breath tingling his skin. "Well, now that I know, we might as well have a little fun, hmm?"

Finally the last glass of wine he had kicked in, and everything stopped.

* * *

He didn't know where he was.

Opening his eyes, he looked around. It was still dark.

Having to urinate, he tried to lift himself only to realize that there was another body cuddling up next to him. Nudging Rei so that she rolled over, he steadied himself and walked over to the bathroom, except there was a wall to where the bathroom was supposed to be. He didn't know where it was, the entire room was different. Shinji was dumbfounded. He simply stood there for a good minute trying to figure out what was going on as he looked around. Thinking back, he tried to remember the events of the previous night. However his last memory was of him drinking some wine with Rei. Confused and needing to go, he wandered around the room aimlessly until he eventually found the restroom.

After relieving himself, he made his way back to the bed, which he also didn't recognize, however, just before he was about to lie back down on the bed, he noticed something that he hadn't noticed before.

Rei had long hair.

But that was impossible, Rei had short hair. Yet the girl who was lying on the bed in front of him had long black hair.

Now Shinji was worried. Crawling onto the bed, he grabbed the girls shoulder and shook it vigorously in an attempt to wake her up.

Moaning, the girl turned over, a slender arm reached out from under the covers and turned on the light. It took a few moments for Shinji's eyes to get used to the absence of darkness but once it did, Shinji wished he didn't see what he saw. The girl in the bed wasn't Rei.

It was Miyuki.

Stumbling backwards in shock, he tripped over a nearby stool sending him crashing onto the floor which caused Miyuki to sit up suddenly and to Shinji's horror, he was that Miyuki wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Shh!" Miyuki shushed, putting her finger on her lips, "You'll wake my elder brother." She pointed another door where snoring could be heard. Seeing the look of shock and surprise on Shinji's face, Miyuki noticed that he was staring intently at her breasts. Miyuki blushed shyly as she covered herself with the blanket. Smiling at Shinji Miyuki winked "Still can't get enough of them can you?"

Oh my god. What have I done? Shinji thought to himself as he looked at Miyuki in shock. Shaking his head, Shinji quickly sprung to his feet; however the aftereffects of the wine suddenly kicked in and caused him to fall forward. Instinctively thrusting his arms forward, he once again found himself on top of Miyuki.

"Mmmm." Miyuki moaned, she reached out and stroked Shinjis cheek. "Good morning to you too."

Suddenly a wave of nausea enveloped Shinji. Feeling the bile rise from his stomach, he covered his mouth with his hands as he ran toward the bathroom. Closing and locking the door behind him, he quickly kneeled in front of the toilet while grabbing the sides of the basin for support. And he was not a moment too soon. Just as soon as he got in position his body clenched, and he felt his stomach turn inside-out.

* * *

He sat completely still with his head over the bowl of the toilet. Saliva dripped from his open mouth as he breathed heavily, staring mindlessly into the acidic water. He couldn't believe what was happening to him, he couldn't believe what he has done. Shinji flushed the toilet and tried to get to his feet. However, in his weakened state, his legs gave out under him and he fell into the bathtub nearby, his flailing arms tore the shower curtains from its railing.

So Shinji lay there, wrapped with the shower curtain, the taste of bile in his mouth, eyes watering and body shaking.


	12. Eva 12

Authors notes: The Artificial Evolution Chamber is Rei's room within NERV. It's the room that Ritsuko showed Misato and Shinji before revealing to them the true nature of the dummy plug. Rei needing medication to survive was mentioned in book 8 or 9 I believe.

**Life Goes On: I Hear Violins**

It was 10 o'clock in the morning. The hustle and bustle of the world outside could be clearly heard from the quiet hotel room. The squeaks of toddlers, the roar of a passing car or truck, even the serene chirping of tropical birds managed to make its presence known to the only occupant of room 1337; who was sitting silently on a twin bead.

Shinji still has not returned.

Shifting quietly to get more comfortable, Rei sat on the corner of the bed, hugging her knees. She had not slept the entire night, opting to wait for Shinji to return. But since his disappearance last night at dinner, Shinji had not once returned to the hotel room. At first Rei thought that Shinji had decided to go see Kensuke or Touji, however neither had seen nor heard from Shinji when she asked them about him whereabouts.

So Rei returned to the hotel room. She had neatly removed her blue dress and placed it back into its rental covering, took a quick shower and waited for Shinji.

And twelve hours later he still hasn't shown up. Eyes heavy from lack of sleep, Rei made her way to the bathtub. It was time for her morning bath. Drawing the water in the bath, she slipped out of her pajamas and carefully lowered herself into the bathtub. The water instantly had a calming effect on her, washing away most of her tensions and worries.

Her mind began to wander.

And she began to remember.

* * *

I watched as Dr. Akagi removed the final syringe from my arm. Reaching over, she unfastened the iron clamps that locked me in place.

"You may leave." Dr. Akagi informed me as she placed her bloody equipment into a nearby sink. Sitting up, I rubbed my sore wrists and arms. Dr. Akagi always fastened the clamps too tightly when she performed surgery. I liked Dr. Akagi's former assistant, Dr. May better.

Chills shot up my legs when I stood on the metallic surface of the surgery room, causing me to cringe slightly as I stood on the balls and corners of my feet in an attempt to minimize contact with the floor.

"Is something the matter?" The doctor asked me as she washed her equipment noisily, the metallic clanking filling the room.

"No ma'am." I grabbed a nearby robe and clothed myself as I left the surgery chamber.

Walking down a corridor, I ignored the occasional scientist or worker than I came across, whom in turn would gladly return the favor.

Upon taking a left, I finally reached my destination and the end of my daily journey.

The abandoned Artificial Evolution Chamber.

I reached out and pressed my password into the little computer panel on the right of the door. With a beep, the console accepted my password and opened the door. The familiar odor of sweat and skin greeted me as I stepped into my room. The door closed behind me, effectively silencing the commotion of people and machinery outside; the only sound present was the dripping water from the leaky faucet.

Ignoring the usual grime, dirt and discarded tools, I made my way to my small bed that was shoved onto the side of the room. I brushed off from the mattress the dirt and wiped the oil that had dripped down from the nearby machinery with my robe.

As I sat on my bed, I pulled the robe tighter over my body as chills swept over me. The Artificial Evolution Chamber was never heated as many of the organics within the room had to be kept at a low temperature in order to keep them preserved. For this reason also most of the room was painted in a dark grey to prevent excess light from causing harm to some of the specimens. I tied the robe around my waist and lay down on my mattress, ignoring the springs as they moaned in protest.

The Artificial Evolution had been my home for the past five years that was my life. Every day since I was brought to awareness, I had lived in this room.

In an attempt to fight off the cold, I pulled a nearby tarp off an unused piece of machinery that was next to my mattress and covered myself. The plastic surface of the dirty tarp irritated my skin but at least I was warm now. I looked at the ceiling, in which the grey paint was starting to peel, revealing the metal plates underneath.

I'll have to go to sleep soon, before the pain-killers that were administered into my body prior to surgery wears off. I could still remember the last time that I had waited until my body was drug free before going to bed; I didn't sleep all night.

I let go of the tarp and folded my arms on my chest. Closing my eyes, I counted each drop of water that leaked from the faucet.

One…two…three…

* * *

I am to relocate?

"That is correct." Dr. Akagi glanced at me lazily as she typed. "Your cellular structure has solidified enough that you no longer require daily ligament and tissue reconstruction to retain your physical form. However," Dr. Akagi reached into her lab coat and pulled out several bottles of pills. "You will be required to take a special form of collagen and elastin in order to replenish your constantly eroding exterior."

"I understand."

"Good." Dr. Akagi thrust the bottles of pills onto my chest, causing me to step backwards. "Since you will no longer be requiring your daily reconstructive surgery, you are no longer required to live within our facility."

I Nodded my head obediently and waited for her to continue.

"You will be moved to one of our outlying apartment complexes." Dr. Akagi explained lazily, clearly not interested. "Your new apartment will be fully furnished and will have a direct phone line to NERV. You will be briefed on your duties for the following day the next morning."

Morning. That caught my attention. I've never seen a morning before. Dr. May would always tell me stories about mornings; how our star, dubbed 'The Sun' would rise as the planet spun on its axis. She told me it was beautiful, the sun. But only sun that I've ever seen was from photographs and the occasional textbook as I was briefed about the world outside.

Maybe it would be different from a photograph, the world outside.

"Your belongings have already been packed and taken to your new residence, you will be escorted by two of our men." I watched patiently as Dr. Akagi examined her notes. "Once outside you will be allowed to communicate with other people. However, under no circumstances are you to discuss the location of NERV or its purpose. Have I made myself clear?"

I nodded my head. "Hai."

"You may leave."

"Hai."

I turned around and left the room. To my surprise I was greeted by two security personnel. I had forgotten about my orders to be relocated.

"Follow us." One of the men ordered. I nodded and followed them both.

* * *

I stood behind the two men while we were taken to the exit by the large mechanical walkway. I was about to see the world outside for the first time. I was eager, excited almost as we rolled across the walkway. I was briefed by the two men about what I should expect once I left NERV's facility.

With a sudden screech the mechanical walkway stopped when we reached our destination; a small door at the back of the facility used by some of the more low-key scientists that worked within that wished to remain hidden from the public eye.

The two men looked at each other then looked at me, as if to confirm something. One of the men reached into his coat and brought out a small ID card. Swiping the ID card onto the panel of the computer, he punched in his ten digit security code and waited patiently. Once the light turned green he placed the card into his coat and pushed a few more buttons on the console.

The door opened. Light shone in.

From within the facility I could see the pale blue sky within the small frame of the open door. I watched as the two men walked out first. I wanted to go with them, but my legs wouldn't respond. I was scared. For the first time in many years, I felt the eerie sensation of fear slowly starting to crawl up my spine.. My entire life was the facility, never have I even dreamed of leaving.

Noticing that I wasn't following them, they both turned to look at me. I had to move. I took a deep breath, held it and lifted my foot. And I took my first step outside.

As I stepped outside the sky slowly grew from the small patch of blue from within the facility to an all encompassing ceiling that stretched over me. I spun around, taking quick darting glances around me, expecting to see a familiar wall or a metallic ceiling but the sky was everywhere I looked. My mind reeled as I struggled to comprehend the vast space above me; looking to my left I saw patches of green vegetation. Are those plants? They looked so different from what I saw in pictures and slides within the facility library.

Feeling a warm tingle on my skin, I lifted my arms quickly to see what was causing the irritation. But I saw nothing. And yet my skin was burning. Placing my other hand on my arm, I noticed that the burning sensation quickly went away, only to resume once I withdrew my hand. I placed my hand over my arm; it cast a shadow small shadow that provided relief from the burning sensation. The light is burning me, I concluded. I quickly looked up, but as I did a tremendously bright light stung my eyes horribly, causing me to clench my eyes shut and reel in pain as I held my face in my hands.

That must be our star. I never knew that it was so powerfully bright. I rubbed my eyes as they watered. Opening them slowly, I quickly looked down to avoid the suns intense rays. Slowly, my vision cleared and I noticed that one of the men was looking at me. He lifted his dark sunglasses to reveal his brown eyes.

"Isn't it beautiful?" He asked me. There was no echo when he spoke.

But before I could answer him the air around me moved. My hair ruffled. And my ears rang.

At first I was shocked at what had happened, but once I realized what had caused the sensation, I relaxed my tired lungs and exhaled. And I took my first breath.

It was Wind.

* * *

White.

Unlike my room back within the facility I noted to myself as I looked around my new apartment. It was a small single room apartment with a kitchen and a small bathroom. Right in the middle of the room lie a single bed, covered by a white blanket. My small box of belonging was placed next to my bed with three school uniforms were folded neatly on it; I was informed by my two escorts that I was to attend school the following morning.

There was a window in my room. I walked over and lifted it up with a heave. I liked wind. It was very enjoyable how it stimulated the skin and played with my hair.

I stood there, by the window until the sun started to set. It no longer hurt my eyes to stare at the orange sun as it slowly sank into the horizon. It was beautiful. Once the sun set, I quickly took advantage of my new shower and commenced my daily hygienic duties slowly. It was rare that I was able to shower, let alone have warm water.

I dried myself with a nearby towel that I let fall to the floor once I was dry. I sat on my bed. The springs did not ache. I did not bother to remove the towel as I lay down on my bed. The blanket was warm and soft, it was comforting.

I looked up at the ceiling, which no longer had grey peeling paint. I closed my eyes.

But I couldn't sleep.

Pushing the blanket away, I walked over to the kitchen, grabbed the knob and turned it slightly causing drops of water to leak from the faucet.

I walked back to bed and pulled the blanket over me as I counted the drops of water.

One…two…three…

* * *

"Hey! Are you OK in there?"

Shinji didn't respond. Shinji couldn't respond, not after what he had done. He was numb. Almost oblivious to what was around him and what was going on around him. Feeling a warm trickle on the back of his head, he reached back only to feel his fingers come into contact with something warm. Retracting his hand, he stared absentmindedly at his blood soaked fingers.

"If you don't respond I'm going to have to wake my brother." Miyuki pleaded, dreading what her brother was going to do to Shinji once he'd been woken up. With Miyuki being the only other sibling of a loving older brother, he was extremely protective.

Thinking straight was already a daunting task for Shinji. Whose psyche had nearly crashed from the realization of his actions. Shinji lifted his head weakly and looked at the locked door that was being pounded by a frantic Miyuki. Getting up slowly, Shinji went to the sink and looked into the mirror. For the last hour and a half he had been sitting in the bathtub, oblivious to the world outside. There was dried vomit crusted onto the sides of his mouth and his eyes were bloodshot. Rinsing off the puke from his face, he savored the cool water before he dried his face with a nearby piece of cloth.

"That's it, I'm going to get my brother." Shinji heard a worried Miyuki say.

Ignoring her voice, he stared mindlessly into the mirror. Only to be interrupted by a loud voice moments later.

"WHERE IS HE?"

Shinji heard the loud slamming of a door and the enraged shouting of an older man from outside the bathroom. Just as he was about to reach for the door, if came flying open, sending Shinji soaring backwards.

Crashing onto the side of the wall, Shinji thought he heard the familiar sound of a door being locked, only to feel him get yanked up to his feet by his hair. He tried to focus as his eyes swooned. Finally managing to regain control, he looked at the face of what he presumed was Miyuki's older brother. Standing at what appeared to be six feet, he was a dominating figure to the small Shinji. He had long hair that was tied back into a ponytail that highlighted his face which was rounded due to the baby fat still present in his cheeks. His gentle eyes were deformed in rage as he stared at Shinji viciously.

As Shinji nervously scanned his face, he was surprised that he was acting so violent; he looked like such a kind person. However, after the first blow to his stomach, Shinji crumpled forward falling on his knees, realizing that looks can be completely deceiving.

* * *

"So what are you going to do with your new-found wealth?" Kensuke asked Touji as they strolled around in a mall, chests puffed out, heads held high and wallets fat from selling pictures of girl's panties online.

"I dunno know, there's like, so much stuff I wanna buy y'know?" Touji closed his eyes. "Like a new basket ball, some kickass clothes, maybe a Playstation 5."

"No Xbox 720?"

"Naw, ever since Blizzard Entertainment bought Microsoft it was just never the same."

Kensuke nodded in agreement. Ever since the global sensation that was Starcraft2 hit the shelves many years ago, Blizzard Entertainment had grown into a global power, reuniting and taking control of North and South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and the state of California, they were now a global electronic and economic powerhouse. However, that wasn't what Kensuke was trying to get to. He had a mission. A mission entrusted upon him by a dear friend named Horaki Hikari, and of course, with Kensuke being the gentleman he is, he could not refuse. After he had listened to her plight, which was that she had wanted Touji to buy her something memorable for their trip at the beach, he couldn't help but feel that he had to aid her. Of course the fact that she threatened to reveal to the police that they had been selling girls panties online did help sway Kensuke; but only a little bit.

"So, gonna spend that money on anyone special?" Kensuke asked out loud, nonchalantly.

Touji frowned as he looked at Kensuke, who was looking up at the sky while holding the back of his head with his hands. "I'm not gonna spend any money on yuh if that's what yur askin'."

Kensuke rolled his eyes. "No, no, no, not me, Hikari, genius."

"Hikari?" Touji gave Kensuke a "even-though-I-like-her-why-should-I-buy-her-stuff" look.

"Y'know, considering you forgot to take her to the festival last night…" Kensuke trailed off.

"Oh, I knew that."

Kensuke laughed at Touji's misunderstanding. "Oh, fo sho, fo sho."

Touji smacked Kensuke on the side of the head. Hard. Several other people who heard Kensuke speak those words also assisted Touji in the beating of Kensuke. Once the crowd of Kensuke beaters thinned out, the pair decided to eat some ramen, only to be thrown out of the shop when Kensuke ordered a bowl of "Bizzle Rizzle." (Beef Ramen)

* * *

Shinji lay in a deserted alley, too tired to move and body shaking. Tears ran freely down his face as he sat in trash, his worthless dirty body next to a steaming pile of decomposing food. He hated himself, he hated his entire being. He hated how he was; he hated every single thing about him.

He didn't want to be him anymore. He wanted to be something else without the foolishness and the stupidity, without all the stupidity that he brought down upon himself, without all the self humiliation and self mutilation.

He didn't want to be him anymore.

Shinji looked up into the blue sky. Lazy Columbus clouds rolled above as he stared up.

He wished he was a cloud, as he stared up into the sky, to be able to simply float and not have a care in the world.

To just float.

However, Shinji couldn't float. He couldn't just escape the pain that he had inflicted upon himself because of his stupidity, because of his own foolishness.

His body convulsed violently as he lay in the streets of Tokyo-3, wounded and blood running down his face.

He was alone.

His own stupidity had made sure of that.

He had no one to blame but himself.

And he hated himself for that.

* * *

"Where is Shinji?" Misato demanded angrily at several NERV operatives. It had been a good three days since anyone had last heard from Shinji. According to Rei, the last time that she had seen him was when they went to have dinner at some sort of French restaurant. And after he had excused himself to go to the bathroom she hadn't seen from him again.

"Goddamn it" Misato swore under her breath as she was informed that there was still no contact from the Third Child. "Ok, I want you to deploy all personnel in stations five and six, with the objective of locating the Third Child." Misato said angrily.

"Understood" bowing, Maya quickly issued the necessary orders into her electronic headset.

Misato sat down on a nearby chair and sighed heavily. She leaned back and looked at the ceiling. "I need a drink."


	13. Eva 13

Authors Notes: El-Oh-El nothing to write here.

**Life Goes On: I Hear Violins**

"So dude, did you try out that new game, Bioshock3?"

"Not now Kensuke!" Touji hissed under gritted teeth, "Not while we are at Victoria's Secret." Touji quickly looked away from Kensuke, and surveyed the area around him to make sure that none of the beautiful women shopping had heard Kensuke's comment.

"I do think that this would suit Hikari rather well, don't you Kensuke?"

Rolling his eyes, Kensuke turned away from Touji who was holding up a huge lacy bra while shouting loud enough for most of the people within the store to hear.

"Look, I know you want to buy a wonderful, thoughtful gift for Hikari," Kensuke said, rolling his eyes, knowing full well that Touji was saying these things to impress people, "but it's been three days since we've last seen Shinji, aren't you a little worried?"

"Yea, Kensuke, I agree, I also think that Hikari would fill this bra out really well, I just hope that it's not too small for her." Touji stated loudly, lifting the huge bra up high enough for every male in the store to see.

Kensuke sighed and looked out the window again, it was not like Shinji to disappear suddenly without telling anyone. "Especially Rei." Kensuke thought to himself. Ever since Shinji's disappearance Rei had barricaded herself in her room; believing that it was her fault for driving Shinji away. She refused to leave, even refusing to open the door for food or water.

Initially, Touji and Kensuke were supposed to go out to search for Shinji, however once they walked past the lingerie store, Touji made a quick detour to buy the present for Hikari that he had long promised her. Kensuke sighed again. If Touji doesn't hurry and make up his mind, it'll be too late to continue searching for…for…

"Wait a minute." Kensuke lost his trail of thought as he looked out the window. There was an alley on the opposite side of the street from the lingerie shop and inside the alley he saw the outline of what appeared to be the body of someone lying inconspicuously in the garbage. It was highly improbably, but then again, Shinji was missing...

"It couldn't be..." Kensuke snapped to his feet and turned to face Touji. But to his surprise, Touji had already heard Kensuke's remark and was next to him staring intently out the mirror.

"Come on." Touji quickly rushed out of the store, followed hastily by Kensuke. Upon crossing the traffic, in which they had to run past speeding cars resulting in several of the drivers giving the pair the 'finger', to which Touji promptly returned, they saw, to their horror, a dirty, bruised Shinji lying in the garbage.

"Oh my god." Kensuke gasped upon seeing Shinji. Both of his eyes were bruised, swollen and purple, his skin was covered in scratches and his face and hair was matted with dried blood. "Oh my god... oh my god…oh my god…" Grabbing Shinji's shoulder, Kensuke gently shook Shinji. "He's not moving." Kensuke shouted to Touji.

"That's enough, both of you."

Turning around quickly to face the voice that had just spoken to them, Kensuke and Touji were greeted by a small army of tall men with sunglasses and suits.

One of the men reached into his coat and pulled out a mobile phone. "The Third Children has been found at our location, prepare the medical chopper." As he snapped the phone shut, one of the other men turned and faced Touji and Kensuke. He was a very bulky man, with very hard facial features and a nasty scar that appeared to have come from a burn across his face.

"We'll be taking care of this, get lost." He growled.

"Over our dead bodies we'll leave him." Touji spat, raising his fists to the group of men.

A familiar voice rang out from behind the group of men. "That's enough, Touji." The group of men parted in the middle, allowing Touji to see who the familiar voice belonged to.

"Misato-sensei?" Touji asked incredibly. He had last seen Misato at the hotel which was several hours walk away.

"That's right, and Shinji has to come with us."

"No." Touji spat venomously, glaring at Misato, "I am not going to leave Shinji alone to these pieces of shits."

Sighing, Misato looked sadly at Touji and Kensuke who were standing protectively in front of Shinji.

"Major." Misato turned to face the operative that had spoken to her. "The helicopter has arrived."

And not a moment sooner the repetitive thwock and harsh winds of the chopper descended upon the group.

"Alright. You two," Misato held onto her hat as she shouted over the noise and pointed at two of the operatives, "Place the Third Children into the helicopter we have to get him to a hospital ASAP."

Nodding, the two men walked forward towards Shinji, only to have one of them shoved roughly back by Touji.

Almost instantaneously the man with the burned face grabbed Touji by the neck and threw him violently upon the alley wall. "You little shit." He muttered as he reached into his coat.

"That's enough."

The operative relaxed instantly at Misato's command, releasing Touji and causing him to fall unto the ground.

"He's coming with us."

* * *

Rei watched the blinds sway gently from the wind from the open window, hugging her knees on the bed. The past three days had been like eternity for her, full of self accusations and remorse.

Her abdomen growled gently, which she ignored. For the past three days Rei had not left her room, nor had she allowed anyone in. When Kensuke and Touji tried to force their way in, they found that the door had been blocked and was unable to open because Rei had barricaded herself inside.

And so Rei remained in her room, which was now filthy enough to compete with her apartment back in Tokyo-3. Rei herself was disheveled and dirty; she had stopped taking baths after the last one on the day that Shinji disappeared. The humid temperatures of the beach in addition to the heat had further accelerated her decent into filth.

Getting up from the bed, Rei made her way to the window, pulled apart the blinds and peeked outside again, hoping against hope that she could somehow spot Shinji as he walked to the hotel. There was no one outside but tourists again. She sat back down on her bed, her heart heavy and her lungs constricted with stress and sadness.

There was a saying she once heard in class, that people don't realize what they have until it's gone. This was not the case. Rei knew what she had; she knew how special he was to her. Every time she saw him, every time he smiled at her, every time she touched him, she knew. And now that he was gone, it just reaffirmed what she already knew.

It was her fault, she accused again as she sat curled on her bed. She never should've insisted that they go to the fancy restaurant. Rei thought sadly, biting her lip so hard that she drew blood. She never should've gone to the fair with him. She never should've agreed to come to the beach with him.

This could've been prevented.

Rei half sobbed half sighed and curled into a fetal position on her bed. She felt that she was empty.

Then she heard a knock on her door. Instantly she sprang from her bed, and ran to the entrance. She knew that Kensuke and Touji had long given up on trying to get her out, and that Misato wouldn't try to take her out unless ordered to by the Commander. And there was no way that Asuka or Hikari would show up here. Then that left only one possible person that was knocking behind the door.

Shinji.

He was finally back, she realized. Grabbing a piece of furniture she ignored her already immensely tired body and pulled it violently away from the door. Throwing the chair as far as she could in her weak state, she stood on her toes and grabbed the top of the dresser and pulled it down so it fell down onto the floor. Her breathing haggard, she pulled a few more pieces of furniture away from the door and hastily crawled over the now broken and messed up pile of furniture. Hyperventilating, Rei struggled to control her breathing as she unlocked her door, a task which was made difficult by her shaking hands.

Once she managed to unlock the door she swung it open with all her might.

NERV personnel.

Her knees buckled as she felt disappointment wash over her body again. The earlier sense of hope and excitement had been snuffed away in a moment. Instantly her sanity and awareness returned to her. Shinji was gone.

She coughed and sobbed, and as she collapsed she realized how much she hated being aware.

* * *

"Wow..." was all that Kensuke could say as he looked around the interior of the NERV helicopter. Full of technological gadgets, electronic zink-zonks, and button-tastical bleep bloops, even the tech-savy Kensuke was having trouble merely comprehending how the chopper operated as a whole. He was as happy as a fish in, well, water. Touji, on the other hand, was nursing the bruises on his neck. Rubbing it sorely, he grimaced at the thought of what would've happened it Misato hadn't stopped the man from having his way with him. Considering how easily he was tossed around, those NERV operatives could do some major damage if they actually wanted to.

He glanced at the still body of Shinji which was being aided in breathing by an electronic lung. "Where are we going?" Touji asked Misato suddenly, who had been sitting silently on the side of the chopper, looking at Shinji.

Lifting her hand, Misato looked at Touji and Kensuke and was quiet for a minute. She placed her hand on Shinji's head and stroked his hair. "Home. We're going home."

"Wait, but what about the class rep, Asuka and Rei?" Touji demanded, outraged. "We can't just leave them here!"

"They will be picked up and taken back to Tokyo-3."

Touji could tell by the look in Misato's eyes that she didn't want to talk anymore and Touji sat down.

"Some vacation this turned out to be, huh?" Kensuke said, bewildered at how effortlessly Misato tamed Touji.

"Yeah..."

* * *

"Dude, this is so amazingly awesome." Touji exclaimed as he played the newest game from Ubisoft, Crysis 4. "I've never seen such amazing graphics in my entire life."

Shinji looked at Touji's struggling computer wearingly. Although it had the newest Intel processor, the Core 86 quadruple and 3 Nvidia Geforce 12900 GTX's, it was struggling to run the game smoothly.

"That's what you get for buying a low end computer." Remarked Kensuke, looking at Shinji. "The required spec's demanded you buy something along the lines of a Double Main board Alienware Duo."

"Like I have the money." Touji shouted as he severed the testicles of a French soldier. "God I love this game."

Frowning at Touji who had taken the testicles of the soldier and had loaded it into his gun and shot it back at a group of enemies, he walked to the kitchen to get some juice. Although he enjoyed having Touji and Kensuke living in his and Rei's apartment, it did get a teeny bit annoying sometimes. Especially when it interrupted his time between him and Ayanami.

"PERVERT!" A high pitched shriek came from the bedroom, followed by a loud slap.

'That's Asuka.' Shinji sighed to himself as he poured himself a cup of juice.

* * *

Taking off her shoes Asuka, as usual didn't bother to knock as she entered Shinji and Rei's apartment. Considering how noisy it was from inside from all the whoops and cheers, they probably couldn't hear her anyways if she did decide to knock. So she decided to sneak up on them to see what all the fuss was about.

The fuss, she found out, was Touji genetically altering the severed testicles of the French soldier, giving it the necessary intelligence and physical capabilities to become Touji's personal attack dog. What Touji and Kensuke considered the crowning moment in videogame history was not shared by Asuka. Needless to say Touji and Kensuke both suffered dire consequences similar, although less glamorous to that of the poor French soldier.

* * *

"Oh my God, everything is so different, man." Kensuke exclaimed in frustration as he gripped his controller tightly. "It's so float, and all the teching is gone." Kensuke, Touji, and Asuka were playing Super Smash Brothers: Apocalypse, the latest game in the Smash Series. Kensuke winced as his character, Cloud Strife, got knocked out of the screen by Touji's character, Mufasa.

"I wish I was ripping testicles off instead of this dumbed down excuse for a fighting game." Touji remarked under his breath glaring at Asuka who was currently playing as Meta Knight. And she wasn't doing so bad, but then again, Kensuke and Touji did die not by Asuka's superior skills but by the fact that now more than ever, button mashing was a viable tactic. Also the implementation of tripping and stumbling didn't help things.

"Better this game that that perverted piece of shit." Asuka remarked as she tore Touji's head off."

"Man, Nintendo's really gotten violent ever since they were purchased by Rockstar games." Kensuke observed as Asuka used her Final Smash, which was an Apache Helicopter that tore up every other character. Touji thought the same thing as he watched Mufasa's torso fly across the screen as Asuka laughed maniacally.

"Are you guys quite done?" Shinji came into the room with an apron wrapped around his waist. "We agreed that you guys would leave before Ayanami came here for our date."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll leave before your precious wonder girl gets here." remarked Asuka, giving Shinji a lopsided grin.

"Yeah, you better do something this time man. I'm making the sacrifice of hanging out with the devil to give you and Ayanami some privacy ti-"

Touji was quickly silenced by an angry looking Asuka.

"Ack, fine, whatever. Let's go." Touji rubbed his head and put down the controller. "But seriously though" Touji whispered to Shinji, "maybe it's time you and Ayanami got a little pilot lovin' going on eh?"

"W-what are you talking about? I-it's not like that going to happen!" Shinji exclaimed blushing red.

"Especially with your plug suits on..." Touji leaned in closer to Shinji, "then maybe you could insert your dummy plug into—"

Whack!

Touji had forgotten to whisper and thus, suffered the divine fury of an angry Asuka.

"Alright, alright, I get it, I'll stop." Touji rubbed the other bruise on his head. "But seriously though, have fun, man." Touji smiled as he gave Shinji the thumbs up.

"Come on guys, The Forbidden Kingdom 3 is playing an hour." Kensuke shouted at Asuka and Touji from outside the apartment.

"Later, dude." Touji said as he left.

"Good luck." Asuka whispered, giving Shinji a wink, which made Shinji blush even redder.

Once they finally left, Shinji was free to continue cooking in preparation for what Touji dubbed Rei and his "Sickeningly Romantic evening".

Grabbing a salt shaker, Shinji continued to cook his meals.

* * *

"I'm home." Rei stated as she entered her apartment. She placed her bag on the ground and took off her shoes. "Shinji-kun?" Rei asked softly as she walked into the bedroom.

There was a large curtain hanging from the ceiling effectively cutting the room in half. Rei frowned; she was not informed of such a thing.

However, before she could walk past the curtain, there came a yelp and to her surprise, the curtain suddenly came loose from its hooks in the ceiling and came floating down. What she saw was a flustered and embarrassed Shinji hanging upside down from a rope that was attached to the curtain via a hook in the ceiling.

"It w-wasn't supposed to be like this." Shinji stuttered as he swayed left and right from the rope. "I kind of got tangled up in the rope as I pulled the curtain down."

Looking around some more Rei noticed a small round table covered in a white tablecloth with plates and candles already lit.

Shinji sighed. "The food is already done. I was trying to surprise you." Shinji laughed softly and looked away from Rei. "But I guess I ruined the surprise."

Walking up to the still swaying Shinji, she kneeled so she was eye level with him and placed her hands on his face to stop the swinging.

Brushing his hair away from his head, she smiled. "Thank you."

And she kissed him.

Once they were done kissing Shinji very reluctantly asked "Umm, Ayanami, can you untie me?"

Giggling, Rei hugged Shinji into her chest. "Maybe."


End file.
